


Rifts

by theCelticMyst



Series: Caitlyn Cousland/Selina Trevelyan Series [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Sexual Content, Time Travel, Wrong partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-06-09 17:51:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 59,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6917254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theCelticMyst/pseuds/theCelticMyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone(s) has messed with the Space Time Continuum so Alistair did not go through with the dark ritual with Morrigan.  What they do not realize is that the rift in the fabric of the world meant that Lady Cousland did not join the maker, rather she and Kieran (whose existence was destroyed were trapped in stasis in the Fade).  That is until they were found by a group of familiar heroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Denerim-Fereldin

**Author's Note:**

> This story started after my World State for Dragon Age did not upload the first time I played Inquisition. As I demanded to know where my Warden was and why Alistair was with that beyotch, Anora, this story came to me.

The King of Ferelden was afraid to lose the woman he loved. He touched one of his wife’s long curly red locks that had slipped out of the bun she wore and wound it around his finger. Leaning in he touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t want you to go, Caitlyn”.

  
“We discussed this before, Alistair,” she leaned in and touched her lips to his. “I need to find a cure to this Calling.” As both husband and wife were Grey Wardens, they were subject to the strange music that would one day call all Wardens to their deaths. Neither of them should hear it for a couple more decades, but were indeed hearing the strange music in their heads. “Not only am I not willing to let either of us die yet, but if I can find a cure for the taint in our blood, then we may yet be able to produce an heir.” Due to the taint in their blood, it was hard for a Gray Warden to have a child; it was unheard of for two Gray Wardens to have a child together. They could not blame the problem on a lack of trying.

  
“We agreed that we would name one of your brother’s children as heir,” he protested, pulling her close to him. “At least let me go with you.”  
She wound her arms around him, holding on tight. “My love, Bryce and Branwyn are only three years old. Neither is up to running a kingdom now. Our people need you here. I will be back as soon as I can. I will return to your side, I promise.”

  
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” he still was not willing to let her go.

  
“I love you,” this kiss was longer and they both held on to the other as if afraid to let go.

“And I you. Always,” he swore.

She reluctantly pulled back, running a finger across his cheek and looking up into his whisky brown eyes. “I promise to…” there was a flash of green light and she was gone.

“Caitlyn!” Alistair sat up in bed, his heart pounding and the name of a woman who had died ten years ago on his lips. The dream had him confused. He and Caitlyn Cousland had never gotten to marry, his beloved fiancée had sacrificed her life to destroy an arch demon; ending the fifth blight. Six months later, at the urging of Arl Eamon, he had married Anora MacTyr-Theiren, his brother’s widow. While he couldn’t say that he loved his wife, they had settled into a comfortable alliance. They had shared a bed a handful of times near the beginning of their marriage, but after he had called her Caitlyn’s name more than once, they had shied away from further intimate relations.  
His closest advisor, Eamon, had insisted that Alistair stop even using his deceased beloved's name. If he had to refer to the dead Grey Warden, he would simply call her The Hero of Ferelden as everyone else did. Not only would it stop upsetting his wife so much, but as he pointed out that Alistair couldn’t even say her name without a tear coming to his eye. This was the first time he had spoken her name in years.

He didn’t know why he was incorporating Caitlyn into a dream about the recent scare among the Grey Wardens. They were indeed all hearing the calling. He had sent the wardens housed in Amaranthine to find out what was triggering the call and how to stop it. He had yet to hear back from them, although the Inquisition had sent word back that they knew. There was a former Tevintor magister turned arch-darkspawn behind it. He had used the false calling to entrap the Orlesian Grey Wardens; the Inquisition was hunting them down.

As for the flash of green light he had seen in his dream, Alistair supposed that meant a new fade rift had appeared somewhere in Denerim. He needed to send some soldiers out to investigate and to fight any demons that may have come out of the rift. He could not bring himself to get up yet, though. Eamon was right, Alistair supposed, for while he could not remember what exactly he had been dreaming it had been of her, he felt as if the scar tissue that had held his heart together since that fateful day on the rooftop of Fort Drakon was being torn and his heart was being rent in two. He said her name again and it was not a mere tear that came to his eye, but a river of them.


	2. Adamant Fortress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, it is the Battle of Adamant Fortress.

**Adamant Fortress, Orlais**

The Grey Wardens watched anxiously as the green clad army marched on their fortress.  They did not need to see the tell-tale eye with a sword through it to know that it was the Inquisition that was about to lay siege on them.  Commander Clarel and her Tevintor ally had warned them that the Inquisition would try to stop their efforts to end the Blights once and for all.  While a few of the younger wardens pointed out the Master Erimond was a Tevintor Magister and could not be trusted, the others reminded them that they were hearing the Calling and they must find a way to put a permanent end to the Blights in case the Wardens were wiped out.

All discussions stopped, however, when the Inquisition forces brought forth their trebuchets and an impressive battering ram.  Adamant Fortress may have stood since the First Blight, but it had never had to face modern war technology.  As the trebuchets fired, Inquisition soldiers produced long ladders to climb up on the parapets.  That is when the demons came to the Wardens aid.  The demons grappled with the invading forces, throwing them from Adamants walls, and then the gates gave way to the battering ram.

A striking figure dressed in a royal blue mage coat, with a matching hat, strode into Adamant, her expertly forged staff on her back.  Selina Trevelyan, the Inquisitor, scanned Adamants interior.   Two steps behind her was an impressive golden haired man dressed in silver armor with a lions mane around the shoulders, and a matching helm; Cullen Rutherford, the Commander of the Inquisition’s military forces.

 He took off the lion helm he wore, revealing well styled short, golden curls.  “Go take care of the demon army, we’ll hold them here.”  As he spoke, one of the Inquisition's soldiers fell from the parapets, screaming until the ground stopped his fall.  Looking up towards the ramparts where the man had fallen from, he saw a rage demon moving away from the wall’s edge.  “Our men can’t get a foot hold.  If you can, clear the demons from the wall.”

Selina nodded as a man in Warden Armor ran up to him.  This was not one of their foes, however.  Warden Stroud had experienced his own order turning on him when he dared to question their actions and Commander Clarel’s plans.  “They will be summoning the demons in the court yard.  Ser Hawke is farther insides.  We must get moving.”

As if they could hear Stroud, three members of Selina’s inner circle rushed to her.  There was Sera, the small blonde elf with choppy blonde hair who secretly led a group of thieves and trouble makers.  Beside her was Cassandra, the tall dark haired Seeker who had a glint in her eye that said she would rather punch you than kiss you.  Rounding out the group was Iron Bull, a large quan-ari with an impressive wrack of horns who had recently gone rogue from his people. 

Selina nodded and began to move forward, but was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm.  “Take care of my Inquisitor,” Cullen placed a quick, gentle kiss on her cheek.  “I could not stand for anything to happen to her.”

Selina smiled.  “As long as you take care of my Commander, I could not bear to lose him.”  With that she charged deeper into Adamant, Stroud and her inner circle close behind her. 

She met immediate resistance as a group of Wardens raced at her.  She raised her hands and called a storm down on them.  She struck another with lightning, as Cassandra and Iron Bull moved into the on comers, swords flashing.   Sera quickly joined in the fight, filling those who were coming to join the fight with arrows.  One of the Wardens managed to slip through, Selina pulled out her sword hilt and a long magical blade appeared, cutting the Warden down. 

They continued to mow through the Wardens until they met up with the dark haired man with piercing blue eyes who had managed to infiltrate into Adamant before the Inquisition's arrival.  “It is nice of you to finally join the party, Selina,” Hawke shouted in greeting.

“Keep the wardens off of my men,” Selina responded, slashing through yet another opponent with her magical blade.

She noticed that one group of wardens were trying to stay out of the fight.  She even heard one shout that they did not want to be sacrificed to demons.  Thank the Maker that some of them still held on to their common sense and had not been taken in by Erimond’s lies and Clarel’s hysterics.

“Wardens!”  She shouted to them.   “My fight is not with you.  Stay back and you will be spared.”  The men and women immediately stepped back from the Inquisition soldiers now infiltrating into Adamant.  Some even turned and joined the fight against the demons that their own leader had summoned.

“This way!”  Stroud shouted, leading her up a set of stairs.  She soon found herself on the walls of Adamant.  Although Stroud tried to lead them away, it was obvious that her people needed help with the demons.  It was not merely just obvious to her, either.

“We need to clear these demons,” Hawke insisted, raising his staff and throwing a fire ball at a despair demon that was blasting cold at two soldiers.

Cassandra knew her so well that she didn’t even wait for Selina’s orders, she ran at a rage demon, slamming it with her shield before impaling it on her sword.  The moment that Selina began throwing lightning at a pride demon, Iron Bull picked up Sera and threw her at a desire demon, Sera rolled and seemed to disappear as she came up, the arrow that embedded in the demon, then exploded was visible enough, though. 

Stroud cursed that they were wasting time, but then waded into the fight.  He saw a rage demon boring down on him, then it was covered with ice.  “You’re welcome,” Hawke laughed at Stroud’s surprised expression, then turned to see a despair demon almost on top of him, but it bounced harmlessly off of an electrified barrier.

“I think it just had a shocking experience,” Selina quipped, as Hawke gave her a grateful smile.

Soon, the demons lay in piles of ash at their feet.  “That was fun,” Iron Bull grinned, as Sera chuckled.

“Let’s get moving,” Stroud insisted.  He led them further inside, where there was token resistance.

“I don’t like this,” Cassandra muttered.  “Where are the rest of the Wardens?”

They had their answer soon enough when they entered the courtyard.  The Wardens were gathered around a large fade rift, bringing demons through.  There seemed to be a large demon, one larger than any of them had ever seen, trying to get through the rift and into the courtyard.  Commander Clarel and Magister Erimond were standing before the gathered Wardens.  “Bring forth the sacrifice,” Erimond demanded.

A young elven woman walked forward.  “Wait, I know her,” Selina hissed.  “She is from Crestwood.”  The elf had been rescued from the walking dead by two Grey Wardens who were searching for Stroud.  “I should have stopped her from joining them.”

“Are you ready?” Clarel asked the new recruit.

“I want to help stop the blights,” was the answer.

Clarel repeated the Grey Warden oath.  “In war, victory. In peace, vigilance. In death, sacrifice.”  She stabbed the girl.  Erimond used her blood to bring another demon through. 

Selina had seen enough.  “Stop!”  She demanded.  The Wardens turned to look at her.  “I have already spared some of your brethren.  I don’t want to have to kill you.  You are not stopping the blight, you are helping it.”

Erimond laughed.  “These are desperate claims of those who would stop our efforts.”

“Listen to me,” Selina insisted.  “You are serving Corypheus.  Erimond serves him.”

The name of the magister turned arch-darkspawn gave Clarel pause.  “Corypheus.”  Had she been helping one of those who started the blights all along?  Maker’s breath, what had she done?

Erimond laughed.  “My master thought you might interfere, so he sent me this.”  A large dragon, which resembled descriptions of an arch-demon, appeared.

“Well, shit,” Selina muttered.  She had last seen that dragon when it had pretty much ravaged Haven single-handedly.  Then her attention was distracted by a rage demon boring down on her.  As she threw a lightning bolt at it, she heard Clarel shout for the Wardens to help the Inquisition, and then the Warden Commander ran after Erimond. 

“We need to go after her!” Cassandra yelled.

“The demons pouring out of this rift make that a bit difficult,” Iron Bull countered.

It took only ten minutes to subdue the demons.  Selina left the Wardens to guard the rift as she raced after Clarel and Erimond.  She found herself cutting a swath through yet more demons, as she made her way to the top of the fortress following the two battling former allies.  At one point she encountered the dragon, spitting what looked like liquid red lyrium at some of her soldiers.  She summoned yet another lightning storm around the dragon; it veered off away from herself and her men.

At the top of the fortress, she found Clarel and Erimond dueling.  Clarel threw a fireball at Erimond.  “You made me serve the Blight!”  She tossed another fireball.

“And you happily served my master,” Erimond gloated.

Clarel’s next blast took him down.  As she threw one magic blast after another at him, he slid along the parapet.  As Clarel, finally, lifted her staff for the killing blow, the dragon appeared, catching her in its jaws.  It threw her into the air, and then let her drop to the ground, and then it picked her back up, shaking her like a dog with a toy until she was dead. 

Then it turned its attention on Selina and her companions.  As it stalked towards them, though.  The fortress showed the damage done by Erimond and Clarel’s fight.  The entire was under them gave way.  Selina soon found herself falling through the air.  As the ground rushed towards her, the mark on her hand that let her open and close fade rifts flared to life and they fell into the Fade.  Selina’s last thought as she fell through the air was that Cullen was going to kill her for this.


	3. The Fade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes are stuck in the Fade and there are a few surprises in there for them. Please feel free to let me know what you think or to give suggestions.

Hawke took in his surroundings.  Was he upside down?  He looked down.  No, his feet were on solid ground, but there was also ground above his head.  Everything had a strange green tinge to it.  “This isn’t what the Fade looked like the last time I was here,” he commented.  He turned to Selina.  “Was it like this for you?

“I can’t remember,” she grit her teeth in frustration.  She had stepped out of the Fade at Haven months before.  Witnesses had said that there was a woman behind her, many believed that it was Andraste (the Bride of the Maker) sending her back to them as her herald.  All she remembered was waking up as a prisoner of the not quite yet formed Inquisition and Cassandra yelling at her.

“There was a large rift in the courtyard,” Hawke reminded them.  “Do you think we can get out through there?  The opening must be nearby.”

It was more of a plan than Selina had been able to come up with and she did not relish being trapped in this existence.  “It’s worth a shot.  Let’s go.”  The others followed her lead.

Cassandra now looked as if she needed to find something to punch, while Iron Bull was trying to hide his terror through a cool exterior and failing at it.  Sera was flipping out.  A long list of expletives was pouring from her mouth as the group moved along.  It took several minutes for her to stop long enough to take a breath.  The moment she did, Iron Bull began to speak.

Iron Bull chose to impersonate Krem, the second in command of Bull’s mercenary group: The Chargers.  “Let’s join the inquisition, boss,” his impersonation was not the best, but no one pointed this out.  “Sure, Krem,” he said in his own voice.  “But what about the demons?”  He switched to his bad Krem impersonation.  “Don’t worry about it, boss, there won’t be any demons.”  He started his own string of expletives, and then looked at his companions.  “If I get possessed go at me from my left side, I have a blind spot.”  He motioned at the patch that covered where his left eye had once been.

Selina moaned internally, wondering if she should have brought other members of her inner circle with her into Adamant Fortress.  If she had realized they would end up in the Fade, she definitely would have made a different choice.  Solas would probably be delighted to be in here with her and Varric didn’t seem to let anything ruffle his feathers.  He was probably cussing her out right now for dragging his best friend, Hawke, into this mess.  Then again, a lot of the world’s present mess was started by one of Hawke’s good friends.   Of course, if Anders, Hawke’s crazy friend, hadn’t blown up a chantry and started the Mage Rebellion, she would probably still be trapped in a Circle of Magi in Ostwick.

Stroud, however, definitely chose to blame Hawke.  “This is all the mages fault,” he declared.

How was it the mages fault? Selina wondered.  The only thing they had wanted was their freedom.  If anything, it was the chantry’s fault for oppressing them.  Before she could say anything, though, Hawke countered.  “It is all the Grey Warden’s fault.  They are the ones who unwittingly joined Corypheus and were practicing blood magic.”

“How can you say that?’ Stroud shouted.  “The mages are the ones who rebelled and started this mess.”

“We were being subjugated by crazed Templars and vindictive reverend mothers,” Hawke countered.  “One step out of line and they would turn us tranquil.  You are the ones who were summoning demon armies.”

Selina shuddered at the thought of being made tranquil; to be cut off from ones dreams and emotions was worse than death.  She could not indulge in her personal emotions while they were stuck in the fade and more demons were likely to attack at any moment.   “Enough, both of you.”  She glared at the two men.  “You can fight when we get out of here.”

“Sorry,” they both muttered and trudged along, refusing to look at each other.  They were able to quickly put their differences aside, however, when they were descended upon by a horde of large spider demons. 

Selina unleashed several bolts of chain lightning, bringing down several of the demons.  She lashed out with bolt after bolt, when one came too close, she pulled out her Enchanter’s Blade and severed it in two with her magic.  One of the creature’s legs slid along her.  She hated spiders, not just the demon type or even the large ones.  She hated all spiders.  The last time she had seen one of those repulsive creatures in her room, she had rushed to Cullen’s office and insisted that he go kill it for her.  He had chuckled as he obliged, then demanded several kisses as payment for his chivalry.  She clung to the memory of the payment as she faced more of the dread creatures.

Sera’s cursing increased in creativity and volume as she fired arrow after arrow into the horde.  At lease Cassandra seemed happy to have something new to punch, not that she used her fists.  She batted at the creatures with her shield and sliced easily through them with her sword.  Soon the latest set of attackers had been dealt with.

That is when Selina noticed a glowing figure ahead of them in the tunnel.  The figure looked familiar.

“Devine Justinia?”  Cassandra gasped.  She had been the right hand of the head of the Chantry and mourned the woman’s passing deeply.  “It can not be her; she died when the Temple of Andraste was destroyed in Haven.”

Selina new that fact well, as she had been the only survivor of that attack.  “Can it be her?”

“I am here to help you,” the spirit of Justinia declared.  “There is a fear demon up ahead.  It is his minions that you now fight.”

“You mean the spiders?” Hawke asked.

“Spiders?  You saw Spiders?”  Sera’s voice was near hysterical.  “I wish I had seen spiders.  Spiders would have been better.”

“It is the general that Corypheus and Erimond were trying to bring through to Adamant,” Justinia explained.  “You must defeat it to get through.  That is not all, though.  There are people trapped in the Fade, a few are nearby.  I want you to free them from the stasis they are trapped in.”

“People?” Iron Bull questioned. 

“Stasis?” Hawke’s brows furrowed.

“Someone or rather a small group of someones have been messing with the timeline of Thedas, several souls have had their lives cut short or their existences extinguished,” Justinia explained.  “When this happened they did not return to the Makers side as it was not their time to do so and the Maker is determined to give them another chance.  They were trapped in suspended animation here in the fade.”

“How many people are there?” Iron Bull was obviously horrified at the thought of this happening.

“There are about half a dozen,” Justinia sighed.  “Three of them are nearby. “  She turned her attention to Selina.  “We have other matters to attend to as well.  First off, you do not know what happened to you the first time that you were here or at the conclave, do you, inquisitor?”

“How do you know my title?” Selina grew suspicious.  “I wasn’t the Inquisitor yet when you died.”

“I know what everyone who has passed through here knows,” Justinia explained.  “I know about your new title, your war against Corypheus, those who have become trapped in here, and even what Samson had for dinner last night.  It is the fear demon who took your memories, you must get them back.  Hurry.”   Justinia flew off while a new wave of demons charged in.

It was then that Selina noticed four glowing green orbs.  She cast a barrier around herself as she used the anchor on her hand, the one that allowed her to control rifts, to magically grab the orbs and absorb them.  As her companions fought off the demons, she found herself back in Haven.  The Devine, Justinia, was trapped between four Grey Warden Mages while Corypheus planned to use her as a human sacrifice to open the Fade and step in physically.  He planned to find the Seat of the Maker and make himself a god.  Justinia had called out for help and Selina had responded, disrupting the ritual.  The orb that Corypheus had been using slipped out of his hold and rolled across the floor.  Selina picked it up.  It was then that the ball had placed the mark on her hand, as the Temple of Andraste exploded.

Selina gasped in shock as she came back to her surroundings.  Her companions were staring at her.  Somehow, they too had seen the vision.  It was then that she noticed that Justinia had returned.  “It wasn’t a gift from the Maker?”  She held up her left hand where the anchor resided.  “It was an accident?”

“If you believe in the Maker, then you know that he set events in place long before they happened.  Who is to say that you being at the Temple and receiving the anchor were not His will?  After all, it has let you fight Corypheus.  Now come,” she led them forward again, and then disappeared through a long corridor.

They had yet to catch up to the Devine’s spirit when the corridor branched.  “This way,” Cassandra moved to the left without another word.  No one knew how she would know which direction to go, but they followed her anyway.

It was then that they started to hear the fear demon taunting them.  It started with Stroud, insulting the Grey Wardens and declaring them to be useless relics from the past.  Then it went to Iron Bull and how he had split from the Qun to save his men.  Next was Cassandra’s turn as it informed her that the Seekers, the order that she once belonged to, could never be restored.

When it got to Hawke, things became puzzling.  “You think you killed one of your best friends, don’t you?  You were too weak to see what he was doing and after he blew up the chantry in Kirkwall, you had no choice, but to kill him.”  The demon’s voice laughed.  “Do you really think you have it in you to dispense justice on your friends?  Do you think you were the one who ended his existence?  You won’t find him nearby, though.  Oh, no, he will be trapped in stasis forever.”

“What is he talking abo…” Hawke’s words were cut off mid-sentence as they approached a mirror with two decayed bodies beside it.  It wasn’t those bodies that held his attention, though.  Near them was some sort of green cage with a green charge running through it.  Inside the cage was a beautiful red haired woman.  She wore silver armor and a pair of etched, silver long swords,   her bun was coming loose as if she had been in an intense battle  Her eyes were closed and she held an infant in her arms.”

“Hey, boss, we found a redhead,” Iron Bull cheerfully declared.  His penchant for redheads was known throughout the Inquisition.

“I know her,” Sera declared.  “I just don’t know how I know her.”

“Let’s just get them out of there,” Cassandra decided.  “Selina, yours and Hawke’s magic should be able to break them free of the stasis field.”

Selina didn’t question her; she just poured pure magic into the field as Hawke did the same.  Soon the field dissipated and the woman fell to her knees, coughing.  The baby let out a little whimper, then started crying.  She hushed the infant as she stood up.  “Where am I?”

“We’re in the Fade,” Selina explained.

The woman looked around.  “It looked a lot different the last time I was here.”

“I know, right?” Hawke didn’t know why, but he liked her.

“Who are you?” Cassandra asked, gently.

“Caitlyn Cousland,” she introduced herself.  She looked down at the baby in her arms.  How had he gotten there?

“And your baby?  How did you both get killed?” Sera asked.  “Weren’t you taking better care of him?

“Sera!” Cassandra gasped.

“You don’t just ask someone how they and their baby died,” Iron Bull reprimanded her.

“He isn’t mine,” Caitlyn murmured.  She thought back, trying to recover any memory of him.  She remembered being on the rooftop of Fort Drakon in Denerim.  She had just brought her sword down on the arch demon, making the final killing blow.  Died?  The blonde elf said she had died.  The blow shouldn’t have killed her, though.  Alistair had gone through the dark ritual with Morrigan to ensure that they both would live.

“The demon/spirit/devine thing said that someone altered time to kill you,” Sera added.

Then Caitlyn knew.  This was the baby that was supposed to result from the dark ritual, the child of Morrigan and Alistair.  How could he have not gone through the ritual and not tell her?  Who could change that?  She looked into the baby’s dark eyes and knew who he was.  She was right about his parentage.  “Kieren,” she announced.  Somehow she knew that was his name.  “He isn’t mine, though.  He belongs to a friend.  I need to find her.”  She looked around.  “Well, first we need to get out of here.  I always hated the Fade.  Hopefully, I don’t get turned into a mouse this time?”

“A mouse?” Iron Bull asked.

“You really don’t want to know,” she promised.

“Ah, but I do.  Let me get you drunk, then you will tell me all about it,” Bull swore.

She let out a little laugh.  “I know a dwarf you would probably get along with well… at least I used to know.”

As they rounded another corner, they found another cage.  In this one was a small, brown haired boy.  “Connor?”  Caitlyn took a step forward.

“Stand back,” Hawked ordered as he and Selina used their magic to collapse the second cage.

“What type of sicko would kill a little boy,” Sera demanded.

When Connor was free, his eyes darted around until they settled on Caitlyn.  “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she knelt down beside him.  The last time I saw you, the Grand Enchanter sent Morrigan into the Fade and she freed you from the desire demon.  You were supposed to be on your way to the Mage Circle in Kinloch Hold with First Enchanter Irving.”

Sera took three steps back.  “He is an abomination?”

“Not anymore,” Caitlyn shook her head. 

“Irving?”  Connor still looked confused.  “He was the old guy who doesn’t like the circle being housed in a tower,”

“That’s him,” Caitlyn confirmed.

“He was going to take me.  I was in my room and one of the other mages followed me in.  He said that you shouldn’t have saved me.  That’s all I remember.”

“Of course I should have saved you, come-on,” she looked up a Selina, who nodded and continued to follow Devine Justinia’s path.

The fear demon started up again.  “Poor little Connor.  Your parents didn’t want you once they realized that you were a mage.  They wanted a good little boy.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Bull picked up Connor and placed him on his shoulders.  “We’re going to get you away from him.”

“Now you have been joined by the last of the Couslands,” the demon continued.  “How does it feel, Caitlyn, to know that everyone you love is gone?  You are all alone now.  Alistair never really loved you, you know.  If he did, you wouldn’t have ended up in here.  He was just using you.  There will just be another blight, anyway.  That one will destroy all of Thedas.  You were sacrificed for nothing.”

“Blight,” Stroud studied Caitlyn.  “Are you a Grey Warden?”

“Stroud is a Warden,” Sera informed her.  “He helped us when the Orlesian Wardens went crazy.

If Stroud was a Warden, he should have been able to sense that Cailtyn was one as well.  Then again, she couldn’t feel him at all.  Perhaps the Fade was clouding their senses.  She was about to tell them that she was when she hesitated.  She did not want to be pulled into Warden Politics now.  She needed to find Morrigan and give her her baby.  Although she did enjoy the way the infant was snuggled into her arm.  Not just any infant, either, this was Alistair’s son.  If Morrigan no longer desired the boy, she would happily keep him.  Either way, she didn’t want the Wardens interfering at the moment.  So she remained silent.

When they surrounded the next corner, they ran into Justinia again.  She had four more memory balls and declared that yet more demons were coming.  “What are those?”  Caitlyn gestured at the balls.

“They are Selina’s memories,” Cassandra explained.  From when she was in here before.  The fear demon took them.

“O.K.” After waking up and finding herself physically in the Fade, nothing was too strange for Caitlyn to accept.  She snuggled Kieren more tightly into her left arm and pulled out a sword with her right hand.  She preferred to fight with two swords, but one would do at the moment.  She slashed at a large spider that had come to close, as Selina absorbed the memories of the last time she had physically found herself in the Fade. 

Iron Bull swung a huge claymore at a fear demon, while Connor held onto his horns to keep his balance.  The child knew he should be terrified by the oncoming battle, but he found his Bull ride to be so much fun that he had a hard time not giggling.

Cassandra moved to protect Caitlyn, until she saw the other woman fighting, even with one arm occupied, she was impressive.  “Where did you learn to fight?’

“My mother taught me,” Caitlyn announced.  “Although, I learned a lot during the blight and a pirate named Isabela taught me how to duel.”

Hawke paused and turned to her.  “Isabela?  A dark haired Antivan who likes to dress provocatively?”  He had to turn his attention back to the despair demon who blasted a wave of ice at him.

“Don’t they all fit that description?” Caitlyn wondered.  “It sounds like her, though.”

“She once told me that she taught the Hero of Ferelden to duel,” Hawke confided.

“Hero of Ferelden?”  Caitlyn decapitated one of the fear demons.  “I have never heard of him.”

They paused as Selina’s memories once again manifested. This time they saw her running toward a fade rift.  It had to be the one she stepped out of in Haven.  Behind her was Divine Justinia, followed by a horde of the spider like fear demons.   Justinia began to slip and Selina reached down for her.  “No, go!”  The image of Justinia ordered.  Selina took one look back, as Justinia fell, and then ran out. 

“It was you,” Selina looked up at the spirit of Justinia.  “It was you behind me in the Fade, not Andraste.”

“It was me,” the spirit confirmed.  “The fear demon comes.  I will hold him off you must go,” she floated up through the ceiling. 

They could now see the rift and their way out, but a larger demon stood in their way.  The group launched an attack at it as one.  It tried to veer away and counter attack, but their numbers and skill were too much for it and within twenty minutes it lay on the ground, torn apart. 

“Go!”  Selina ordered.   As her companions ran through the rift something blocked out her light.  Looming above her was a giant spider.  Just one of its fangs was the same size as her.

“I will stay,” Hawke volunteered.  “You go.”

“No,” Stroud countered.  “You are right.  The Wardens caused this mess and the Wardens must fix it.  “I will stay.”

Selina looked between the two men, not sure who to pick.  Yet Stroud was right, a Warden sacrifice could be required to gain Orlais, and perhaps all of Thedas’, forgiveness for their action.  “Stroud,” she simply said.

He nodded and lifted his sword.  “For the Grey Wardens.”

The rest ran through the rift.


	4. Adamant Fortress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes are back in Adamant Fortress. They may have lost one Grey Warden, but gained several more. However, it may be one less than they think. Plus, if Morrigan was supposedly going somewhere where the Warden couldn't find her, her efforts to hide were an epic fail.

                Selina stepped out of the fade rift, turned, lifted her left hand, and let loose a beam of green.  Then closed her fist as if she were crushing a heart, the rift closed.  The Grey Wardens cheered.  Then one approached her.  “Where is Stroud?”

                “He’s dead!” Selina spat out.  “He’s dead, because of your stupidity.” 

                The Warden’s face fell.  “What are we going to do?  We have no senior members left.”

                “You will join the Inquisition,” Selina informed him.  She wanted them close, for their protection as much as Thedas’.  She did not want Corypheus corrupting any more members of the noble order.  Besides, they would be needed if there was another blight.  They were the only ones who could kill an arch-demon, although she was still unsure as to why that was the case.

                “Selina!”  She heard a familiar deep, velvety tone.  Cullen never called her by her given name in front of the men.  She turned to see him rushing towards her.  He didn’t slow down, he merely gathered her into his arms, crushing her against him, as he took several more steps further.  “I thought I had lost you,” his voice cracked.

                “It’s o.k.  I’m here.  We are both here.”  She held on to him.  She had faced plenty of fears in the Fade, but the worse one was that she would not see him again.  After several minutes he loosened his grip enough for her to look up at him.  “We lost Stroud.”

                “I know,” he ran a gentle hand down her cheek.  “It will be all right.”

                “We did gain a new recruit, though,” she turned to indicate Caitlyn and noticed that all of the Inquisition soldiers were suddenly looking somewhere other than at their Commander and Inquisitor.  Caitlyn was frowning at the Wardens, as if trying to puzzle things out.  “Caitlyn Cousland.”

                Caitlyn turned when she heard her name.  She could not sense any of the Wardens.  Perhaps her inability to sense Stroud had had nothing to do with the Fade or at least it was not just the Fade.  She continued to frown when she saw Cullen, he looked vaguely familiar.

                “Don’t I know you?”  Cullen could not believe it.  He was sure that she was dead.

                “Kinloch Hold,” the memory suddenly came to her.  “You were imprisoned and being tortured by blood mages.”  She had saved him from that fate, although she had left him in the magical cage they were keeping him in until after she killed Ulrich and rescued Irving.  From the way he was holding Selina, who was clearly a mage, he was feeling better about their kind than he was after that experience.  Please, Maker, don’t let him announce to the Wardens who she was.

                “She was trapped in the Fade,” Selina interrupted.  “I will tell you about it later.”  She knew about what had happened to Cullen in Kinloch Hold.  How had Selina come to be there?  She was obviously not a mage or Templar.  She would ask Cullen later, when they were private.

                Cullen understood the pleading in her eyes.  She obviously did not want her full identity revealed.  “Is it just you we are recruiting or the baby as well?”

                “I would love to help against this Corypheus,” especially if he was corrupting Grey Wardens.  “But I need to find Kieran’s mother.”

                “The Inquisition’s resources are at your disposal,” Cassandra came up behind Caitlyn.  “I’m sure you will find her faster with us.”

                “The last thing I knew, she didn’t want to be found,” Caitlyn warned.  “This could be difficult.   She is an apostate, a Witch of the Wilds, to be specific.  Her name is Morrigan.”

                “Morrigan?”  Cassandra repeated.  “Tall, dark haired, green eyes that have yellow in them, and a bad attitude.”

                “That would be her,” Morrigan was not hiding as well these days.

                “She’s at Skyhold,” Selina informed her.  “She is one of my advisors.”

                Boy, Morrigan had really lost her grip on the concept of hiding.

                Hawke laid a hand on Selina’s arm.  “I’m going to Weisshaupt to see how far this corruption has spread.  Tell Varric goodbye for me.”

                “I will,” Selina gave Hawke a quick hug.  “Take care of yourself.”

                Cullen kept an arm around Selina, as if he were afraid that she would fall through another Fade Rift if he let go.  “Let’s go home, darling.”  He glanced back at Caitlyn.  “Welcome to the Inquisition.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for your kind words. Comments and suggestions are encouraged.


	5. Orlais

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes travel from Adamant to Skyhold. Caitlyn calls BS on Blackwall's claims about Grey Wardens and where he was during the Fifth Blight. Then he puts his foot in his mouth. Warning: This chapter contains angst.

                The Inquisition left Adamant the morning after the battle, they all seemed anxious to put space between themselves and the dreadful fortress.  The Wardens, who were left, joined the party.  It bothered Caitlyn that she could still not sense any of them.  Nor could they seem to sense her as not a one of them had said anything about her herself being a Grey Warden.

                Caitlyn was given a horse of her own, which she admitted was better than walking with the soldiers.  It was a beautiful chestnut Taslin Strider.  She had grown up with a Ferelden Forder, but had to admit that the Striders were better for long distance travel.  Selina informed her that the horse didn’t really have a name and she was free to name her, herself.  Caitlyn thought about it for several minutes.  She had just been delivered from a form of death and out of the Fade, so she named her Anastasia after an old Tevintor name that meant either rebirth or ‘she shall rise again’.

                She handed Kieran off to Selina as she mounted the horse, and then took him back.  One of Iron Bull’s chargers had made a type of sling baby carrier for her last night.  Another had found a wet nurse among the servants at Adamant.  It seemed the servants had been too valuable to be sacrificed in Erimond’s rituals and were smart enough to stay hidden during the fighting, so a dark haired elf with big blue eyes named Dannu joined them.  Sera immediately grumbled about the nob needing someone to order around, whereupon Caitlyn demanded to know if she had any other ideas on how to feed the baby.  She wasn’t sure if Sera had somehow figured out that she was a noble or if the confrontational elf was just being persnickety.

                During the long ride through Orlais, Caitlyn was introduced to the rest of the Inquisitors inner circle as they rode towards Skyhold, the home of the Inquisition.  There were three mages.  The first one, Vivienne, simply turned her nose up at Caitlyn.  Caitlyn didn’t know what she had ever done to the former First Enchanter, but the woman was clearly Orlesian so she didn’t care.  She had dealt with enough Orlesians in her time, this one wasn’t even a noble, but apparently thought she was the empress.

                The next person that she was introduced to was Solas.  The bald elf was cool, but cordial towards her.  Yet he kept narrowing his eyes at her.  At one point she swore that he muttered “I know I saw her die… or did I?  I am going to have to sleep on this.”

                The third mage was a Tevintor Magister, or rather an Altus, as he corrected her.  He was both handsome and charming.  She wondered what he would be like around Zevran, an elven assassin, who thought himself suave, that she used to know.  Although, Zevran wasn’t nearly as fashionable as Dorian appeared.   Nor could he make her laugh as easily.

                Along with Sera, there were two other rogues.  One was a strange blonde boy with big eyes named Cole.  He wielded a pair of large daggers.  He seemed a bit confused and surprised when she offered to teach him how to replace one of those daggers with a sword.  It was then that he noticed the pair of swords that she wore.  “Those are bigger than mine,” he declared. 

                She smiled at him.  “That is because they are both swords.  It took a lot of practice to be able to wield two swords at once, rather than a sword and dagger, but I would be happy to teach you.”  Cole seemed happy at the prospect, but she noticed Solas glaring at her.

                “That is a wonderful idea,” Varric, the other rogue in the group, cheerfully interjected.  “Cole needs to learn new things.”  Varric was an archer, like Sera.  He carried a wicked looking crossbow which he had named Bianca and that he tended to stroke a little too tenderly.  She had known men who were fond of their weapons, but this was a little ridiculous.

                The last member of the Inquisitor’s inner circle that she met was Blackwall, a Grey Warden, or at least he claimed to be.  Caitlyn could not sense him either.  They had ridden for several hours and had stopped for a rest, when she left Kieran with Dannu for several minutes, when she approached Blackwall.  “Can you feel the other Grey Wardens?” She asked quietly.

                He looked rather confused.   “Uh… of course I can.  Why do you ask?” 

                It must just be her then, she shrugged.  “I’m sure it’s nothing.”  She remounted Anastasia and Danu handed Kieran up to her.  After she had him settled into the sling, she scanned her companions.  Sera and Vivienne were snarling at each other.  Cole was asking Blackwall questions that obviously made the older uncomfortable.  Solas was trying to get him to stop.  Iron Bull was flirting shamelessly with Cassandra, who was trying to hear a story that Varric was telling her and Dorian at the same time.  She noticed that Cullen had his hands on Selina’s waist and was moving her on to her own horse.  Wait, had the two of them been sitting on the same horse?

                As the group continued their journey, Caitlyn moved her horse close to Iron Bulls.  She had a personal question that might be taken as rude and had been building up the courage to ask him all day.  “Bull… why do you have horns?

                Iron Bull was confused by the question.  “It is because I am qunari.”

                “I knew a qunari, though.  Sten did not have horns.”

                “Well,” Bull coughed.  “There are a minority of qunari who are born without horns; it means that they are meant for something great.”

                “Great, riiiight,” she recalled the qunari soldier who had fought with her to end the Fifth Blight.  “He made it to Ferelden, lost his sword, panicked, killed innocent people, and ended up in a cage in Lothering.  If I hadn’t happened by, he would have been killed when the darkspawn over ran the city.”

                “You were in Lothering during the Fifth Blight?”  Varric rode up to them.  “Did you know Hawke?”

                “I didn’t meet Hawke until he helped free me in the Fade,” Caitlyn admitted.  “I was only there for a few days.  Morrigan took us there after her mother saved us from Ostagar.”

                “Who is us?”  Iron Bull pried.

                “Wait,” Varric held up a hand.  “’Caitlyn Cousland’.  I have heard that name before.”  He pointed an accusing finger at Caitlyn.  “You’re the hero of Ferelden.”

                “The what?”  She almost laughed at the silly title. 

                “You are the Grey Warden who led the fight against the arch demon and ended the Fifth Blight,” Iron Bull was Impressed.  “You must have been in that stasis cage for ten years without again a day.  That’s kind of cool.”

                She looked around.  She did not want word to get out that she was a Warden until she had delivered Kieren to Morrigan and figured out what to do next.  She needed to find out how things were in Ferelden, especially Highever before she did that.  Her home and duties to her now night extinct family were always more important to her.  After all, she had been conscripted into the Wardens against her vehement protests.   The Couslands she had loved.  “I led the forces against the arch demon, yes.”

                Blackwall must have been listening in, for he quickly guided his horse over to them and looked like a boy on Saturnalia morning.  “You are the Hero of Ferelden?”

                “No,” she answered curtly.  “I am Caitlyn the only daughter of Bryce Cousland, the Teyrn of Highever.  I was conscripted by a Grey Warden named Duncan during the Fifth Blight.”

                “Blackwall was in Ferelden,” Varric told her.  That is what Blackwall had told him when he asked.

                Caitlyn was so take back that she almost fell off of her horse.  She held Kieren closer as she adjusted her seat.  She thought back to the battles she and Alistair had faced together, they the last two Grey Wardens in Ferelden.  The youngest two recruits left to face the oncoming hordes together, unsure of what to do only knowing that they would face the oncoming storm together.  Maker, she hoped he was OK.  “That is bullshit!”  She snarled.  “There were only two of us left in Ferelden.  At least until Riordan showed up and he was only around long enough to give bad news and get himself killed.”

                At this point, it was evident that some of the others were now listening in.  Blackwall was beginning to look a bit nervous.

                “So how do you kill an arch demon?”  Iron Bull was excited.

                “Hero here says that it just has to be a Grey Warden sword that does the killing,” Varric indicated Blackwall.  “Is that really all that there is to it?”

                “It just has to be a Grey Warden sword?”  Caitlyn repeated.  She looked back at Blackwall.  Was he even really a Grey Warden?  “I wish that is all there was to it.  I wouldn’t have lost ten years of my life then.  Blackwall, are you…”

                “Look out!”  Blackwall shouted.

                Caitlyn turned to see a horde of Hurlocks attacking the inquisition.  She did not know what bothered her more, the fact that the creatures were dumb enough to attack a large party or that she had not sensed them approaching.  She jumped off of Anastasia, cradling Kieren to her in her left arm, as she pulled out her sword, Starfang, with her right hand.  She easily danced around her opponents slashing at them, as her companions joined in on what turned out to be a short battle.  Soon the darkspawn lay dead at their feet.

                “I may have worked for the Grey Wardens, but I never thought I would see darkspawn up close,” Dannu announced from nearby.  “This is so exciting!”

                Caitlyn turned to Varric and Iron Bull.  “I couldn’t sense them,” she admitted.  “I may have been a Grey Warden once, but I don’t think I am anymore. “  Her connection to the tainted darkspawn and the blights was broken.

 

                Word of Caitlyn’s past quickly spread through the Inquisition forces.  Sera rode up to her and announced that she now remembered where she had seen Caitlyn before and that she might not be a total nob.  Then she rode off.

                Vivienne rode up and looked her up and down.  “So, you are the daughter of a teyrn,” then she too moved away.

                Caitlyn sighed.  Well, as long as that was out in the open, she might as well find out what had happened to her friends.  She wanted to ask about Alistair, but one of her companions was living on borrowed time as it was.  She turned to her companions.  “Have any of you heard what might have happened to an enchanter from Kinloch Keep named Wynn?”

                She was surprised when it was Cole who answered.  “She died helping her son, Rhys.”

                “Wynn found her son?”  Caitlyn felt a small pang at the confirmation of Wynn’s death, but was happy that even that piece of unfinished business had been taken care of.  She looked down at Kieren for a moment gathering her courage.  It had been ten years since she had seen Alistair after all, could she really expect him to wait for her?  “What about the other warden, Alistair?  He was to become king of Ferelden.”

                This time it was Blackwall who answered.  “He is king of Ferelden now.  He married Anora, the daughter of the Ferelden warrior-hero Loghain, shortly after the end of the blight.  They happily rule Ferelden side by side.  It is a wonderful story.”

                She cut him off.  I don’t want to hear it.  Indeed, she could not stand to hear any more.  Not only had the man who had once sworn to love her forever, the one who would always hold her heart, married another, he had not even bothered to mourn her first.  No, he had married the shrew whom she had called a bitch to her face.   She could feel her heart cracking and the sky seemed to darken.  As she looked up, she saw that clouds moving in and it began to softly rain as if the Maker himself were crying for the love that had been ripped from her, for the heart that was trying to decide whether to turn to stone or let itself crumble into dust.  The light that had been given to one who would never appreciate it.  She rode forward in silence, hoping that the others would mistake the tears falling from eyes as mere rain drops.

 

                Caitlyn rode the rest of the day in silence.  After they had broken for camp, Dannu had fed Kieren then announced that she would keep him for the night as he seemed to want to eat every two to three hours.  Caitlyn was hesitant to let someone else keep him for the night, but welcomed the chance for a good night’s rest.  Although, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone after Blackwall’s announcement.  Then again, she wasn’t sure that she wanted company either.  As she sat near a camp fire, picking at druffalo and broccoli stew, Varric found her.  Trailing behind him was Cassandra, Blackwall, and Dorian.

                Cassandra wasn’t sure what was said to Caitlyn earlier, but she knew the men had upset her greatly.  She wanted to try and keep that from happening again.

                “Hey, Rose,” Varric sat down beside her.  “Are you feeling better?”

                “Rose?”  Considering the news she had gotten earlier, she wasn’t sure that roses were something she wanted to hear about.  She still had the rose that Alistair had given her, the perfect one from Lothering, in a protective box in her pack.  She had had Morrigan cast a spell on it so it would never whither.

                “Yea, Rose,” Varric smiled at her.  “With that red hair and those big dark green eyes, you are definitely a rose.”

                “I guess it is better than pup,” she sighed.

                “Pup?”  Varric raised an eyebrow.  “Who called you pup?”

                “My father,” she confided.  “He rarely even called me by my name, just pup.”

                “Did you have a lot of siblings so he couldn’t keep your names strait?” Varric guessed.

                “No,” she actually chuckled a little.  “I only had one older brother.”

                “I’d like to get your story,” Varric held up his hands, palms facing together.  “I can see it now, The Story of the Hero, as told by the actual Hero of Ferelden.  My publishers will shit themselves.”

                “I would like to hear that story,” Blackwall interjected.  “I want to know how the royal couple came together.  I believe Anora was Alistair’s sister-in-law, yet despite the loss of her husband she fell for Alistair the moment she met him.  I bet it was romantic.  You like romance, don’t you, Cassandra?”

                “That isn’t what I’ve heard,” Varric countered.  “I heard he was in love with his fellow Warden, the Hero of Ferelden.  They became engaged at the Landsmeet and were going to rule together.”

                Caitlyn stood and turned to Blackwall, with tears glistening in her eyes.  “The only thing that woman loved was power,” She turned and rushed to her tent, not wanting them to see her cry.

                “I see that my version is right,” Varric grumbled.

                Cassandra shot to her feet.  “I told you not to upset her again.”  She followed after Caitlyn.  Varric started to follow and she him a venomous look.  “Don’t.  You may not have been the one to put his foot in his mouth, but you pried.”  She opened the flap to the tent.  “Cait…”

                The other woman was laying on her bedroll, curled into a ball, her fist stuffed into her mouth to muffle her sobs.  After several breaths she managed to strangle out of few words.  “How could he?”  She tried to breathe again.  “How do I go on without him?”

                “Shhh,” Cassandra sat beside the other woman, and pulled her so Caitlyn’s head was cradled in her lap.  She stroked her hair.  “You will go on, because you must.  The Maker did not grant you a second chance at life for you to waist it. It will be one day at a time until you get past this.”  Although she had always found the tale of the Hero and King of Ferelden to be terribly romantic.  The thought that now they could now not be together made her think of one of Varric’s books.  There must be a way for the heroes of the story to get past this obstacle, for them not to would be a terrible tragedy.  Yet this wasn’t a story and her new friend was obviously hurting.  “You don’t have to talk about it until you’re ready, but when you are I will be there to listen.”

                Caitlyn nodded, leaving her head in Cassandra’s lap as the other woman continuing to comfort her until she fell asleep.  It wouldn’t be until the next morning that she realized that the nightmares she had had since becoming a Grey Warden had stopped.

 

                Across the camp, in another large tent, Selina laid cradled in Cullen’s arms.  Her head was on his chest and he was slowly stroking her back.  She had witnessed the scene with Caitlyn during dinner and the thought of losing the man she loved terrified her.  “If I ever die…” she started.

                “I will wait faithfully until the end of my days until the Maker decides to return you to me, whether that be back to this life or when I join you at his side,” he swore.  Just the thought of her being in Caitlyn’s situation scared him. 

                “Good,” she stretched up and kissed his cheek.  “As I will for you.  I don’t want you to be alone forever, but it would be horrible if I had to kill your new wife, once I came back from the dead,  just because she was standing between us.”

                “Then you would be facing the hangman’s noose for murder,” he pointed out, trying not to chuckle.

                “I would make it look like an accident,” she swore.  “Perhaps a freak storm where she happened to be hit by lightning multiple times.”

                He kissed the top of her head.  This would never be an issue, for if he was parted from her, he would move the earth and sky to get her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep the comments coming. Suggestions are welcome. Slight apologies to Blackwall and Sera fans. There are times they do not come across as the nicest characters, but one can not get along with everybody. No apologies to Vivienne fans, I'm surprised I am treating her as well as I am.


	6. Eastern Orlais & Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes arrive back in Skyhold. Caitlyn meets with Selina's advisors

Few asked Caitlyn any more questions for the rest of the journey to Skyhold.  She continued to carry Kieran for most of the journey.  She had yet to tell anyone Kieran’s exact parentage, but she knew.  He was the result of a dark ritual between Morrigan and Alistair that would guarantee that both she and Alistair would survive killing the arch demon.  Despite what Blackwall had told his companions, the reason that it had to be a Grey Warden who killed the arch demon was because when it died, the demon’s spirit would jump to the closest tainted creature and possess it.  If that creature were a darkspawn, that darkspawn then became the arch demon as the corrupted spirit of an old god would take over and remake the darkspawn in its own image.  However, unlike a darkspawn, a Grey Warden was not a soulless creature.  They were tainted, though.  The arch demon could not take hold of the body, but the Warden would die in the process.  Morrigan had assured them that the baby created in the ritual would attract the old god’s spirit, but would not become an arch demon nor would it die.  It would be something new.  She did not know if the baby she held in her arms was something new, but she did know he was Alistair’s.  She had come close to changing her mind about handing him over to Morrigan, but she knew that she could not deny another woman the child that had already been torn from her once.

                Cassandra and Cole rode close to her.  Cassandra kept an eye on the others, as if to challenge them to upset Caitlyn again.

                Cole had only said three words to her “He meant always.”  She was not sure what he was talking about, but his presence seemed to ease her pain and give her a measure of comfort.

                When they finally reached Skyhold, Caitlyn was suitably impressed by the large castle that looked over the Frostback Mountain.   Towers and turrets seemed to stretch up to indeed let the sky come down and rest upon them.  The old stone was weathered and covered by ivy, but looked sturdy enough to hold off any invading army.  “How did you even find this place?”

                “Solas led us here,” Selina confided, as she moved her mount closer to the other woman.  “I will have Josephine see to getting you your own room, meet me in the war room after you talk to Morrigan.  She should be in the gardens.

                Caitlyn scanned the impressive stronghold.  It was larger than any castle she had ever been in.  “Where are the gardens?”

                Selina laughed.  “I will have one of the soldiers show you.”  She moved off to do just that. 

                Caitlyn noticed Vivienne dismount and head to Connor’s side.  She may not like the mage, but Vivienne had taken the boy under her wing on their first day together.  The boy needed someone to teach him how to control his magic and she was grateful that someone was already seeing to the matter.  She may not have liked the Circles of Magi, which were often virtual prisons to the mages and a reason why they had rebelled, but Connor was proof that there needed to be some organization in place to help young mages when they first discovered their powers.

                Soon a nervous looking soldier named Jim was leading her through a large hall and out a side door to serine garden.  Standing near a Gazebo was a familiar looking, slight, dark haired woman.  “What do you mean that I am to wait out here and not join the rest of the Inquisitor’s advisors in the war room?” She demanded of the messenger who was cowering before her.

                “Um… there she is, I have to go,” Jim bolted back into the keep.

                Caitlyn grinned to herself.   Morrigan could be scary, but she knew of the Witch of the Wild’s soft side, the side she let few see.  She looked down at the infant in her arms.  “Let’s go introduce you to your mommy.”  She knew what had been taken away from by those whom the spirit of Justinia had said had gone back in time to rearrange the world to their liking, but to have your child taken from your arms was heinous indeed.  “Morrigan,” she called as she approached her friend.  Were they still friends?  She did not know how Morrigan recalled events.  Who knew how much those who had ripped her from her world had changed.

                Caitlyn?  Morrigan didn’t believe in the Maker, yet the familiar redhead approaching her wasn’t a ghost.  There was her dead friend, alive and well, with a baby wrapped in her arms.  “Well, well, what have we here?”

                Caitlyn smiled at the words, the same ones Morrigan had said to her the first time they met.  “More than you know.”  She held out the baby, addressing him.  “Kieren, meet your mother.  Morrigan, your son.”

                Morrigan actually took a step back.  “I have no son.  Your darling Alistair refused to go through with the ritual.  I left that very night after he walked in and announced that it would be betraying you to do so, thus causing your death as I recall.”

                As if he understood her words, Kieren began to cry.  Caitlyn pulled him back against her, rocking him slowly.  “Yes, you do.   As I recall events, he did go through the ritual and you were with us on the rooftop of Drakon Prison.”  Caitlyn brows furrowed, she now also recalled a flash of green nearby as she battled the arch demon and somehow Morrigan had disappeared to be replaced by Wynn.

                “What is it,” Morrigan pressed.

                “I saw a green flash during the battle; it was shortly before I killed the arch demon.  You were on the rooftop with us, but after the flash you were gone and Wynn was there,” Caitlyn explained. 

                “A green flash like the color of a fade rift?” Morrigan pressed.  When Caitlyn nodded Morrigan related a coinciding memory.  “I, too, saw a green flash of light near my room that night in Redcliff.  Ten minutes later, Alistair came in and announced that he couldn’t go through with the ritual.  When I pointed out that it was you who just might die, not him, if he did not go through with it, the idiot swore he would never let that happen.  I have cursed him a dozen times for not keeping his word.”

                “We saw what appeared to be the spirit of Justinia in the Fade,” Caitlyn informed her.  “She told the others who were there that someone had used time travel to change the past; their victims became trapped in some sort of stasis in the Fade.  I wonder how many of us there are.”

                “So not only are we facing a Magister Darkspawn who wants to be a god, we have time travelling assassins on top of that.”  She eyed the infant in Caitlyn’s arms.  He was her son, the son that some fowl creatures had taken from her.  Void take them, when she found those responsible she would make them suffer in ways that they could never imagine.  As for now, she could not believe that she had even thought to reject the small, sweet bundle that had been offered to her.  She visibly softened as she held her arms out for him.  “May I hold him?”

                “Of course,” Caitlyn gently placed the baby in his mother’s arms.  “He is yours.”

                “Mine,” she looked down at the beautiful face that was now looking up at him with wide eyes.  She had always felt herself a selfish creature, but she knew that she would do anything for him, for this precious little boy who had somehow been taken from her.  When he began to whimper, she looked up at Caitlyn.  “I’m not sure what to do.  How do I even feed him?”

                Caitlyn smiled.  “We have a wet nurse for him.  I will have her brought to you.  Then, after I go meet with Selina and the rest of her advisors, we will have to get him everything else he needs.  I still have everything that I was carrying when I apparently died on that rooftop.  We can afford it. “

                “You haven’t met her other advisors yet?” Morrigan was surprised.

                “Only Cullen.  Why?”

                Morrigan only laughed.  “You will see.”

                Caitlyn wondered what Morrigan meant by that as she sought out someone who could give her directions to the war room.  As she approached she heard voices from the other side.  “So you are telling me that you found this woman in the Fade and you brought her back here?  Maker’s eyebrows, Inquisitor, what if she is really a demon?”

                “She isn’t a demon,” Cullen interjected.  “I have met her before, ten years ago.”

                “I don’t know,” that voice was familiar.  “Where did you meet her?”

                Caitlyn opened the door, as Cullen said, “At Kinloch hold, the Circle of Magi in Ferelden,  when you helped her rescue those trapped in the tower, Leliana, including me.”

                “Sweet Maker,” Leliana choked out, and then she jumped on the war table, ran a couple of steps and threw herself at Caitlyn.  “I saw you die,” she wrapped Caitlyn into a strong embrace.

                “I know,” Caitlyn returned the hug.  “We need to talk about that.”

                “I take it you know this woman as well?” A short Antivan woman dressed in yellow and an excessive amount of ruffles questioned.

                Lelianna nodded as she inspected Caitlyn, making sure that she was real and not some deluded vision.  “The Maker has really returned you to us?  I have cursed him for your death, as well as Justinia’s, and now he has returned you to us.”

                Caitlyn looked around her fellow redhead, the woman who had once been her closest friend and likely still was.  “I’m Caitlyn Cousland, please to meet you.”

                “Someone has been using time magic to change the past,” Selina supplied.  It is likely that they are using time magic similar to what we saw in Redcliff, only they have travelled more than just a year.”

                “We know that there have been at least three victims,” Cullen added.  “All of them were in Ferelden when the change took place.”

                “There have been at least four, if you believe the fear demon I faced in the Fade,” Selina countered.  “The fourth was in Kirkwall.”

                “I just spoke to Morrigan,” Caitlyn interjected.  “We know that two of the incidents took place in Redcliff.  The third was in Denerim.”

                “You saw Morrigan first?” Lelianna looked a little hurt. 

                “I didn’t even know you were here,” Caitlyn objected.  “I had … something of Morrigan’s that she needed to get back.  I will tell you more about it when we are alone.”  She did not want to explain how Morrigan and Alistair had a baby together in front of the other advisors.

                “What do you plan to do next?” Lelianna pressed.

                “When I first stepped out of the Fade, I had thought to go to Denerim,” Caitlyn admitted.  “Then I learned that Alistair had gone and married that thrice cursed whore spawn before my body was even cold.  Now I’m not sure if I want to see him or not.”

                “Cait,” Leliana drew her friends against her side.  “He did mourn you.  He looked like his entire world had been crushed to powder when you died on that roof top.”

                “Anyway,” she refused to cry again.  “I talked to Morrigan about the changes and we both noticed that there is a green flash near them.”

                “I experienced time magic in Redcliff,” Selina reminded the others.  “It seems that someone has been using time magic to change the past.”

                “Who could even pull that off?” Josephine wondered.  “We have Alexius in custody and he would have no reason to go back and kill The Hero of Ferelden.”

                “We’ll find out who it is,” Leliana promised.  “I would like you to stay and fight for the Inquisition, though, Cait.  We could really use your knowledge about darkspawn and your fighting skills.”

                “I really don’t know much about darkspawn,” Caitlyn announced.  “I was a Warden for only one year and was only one for a day before all the senior members of the order in Ferelden were killed at Ostagar.  I’m not even a Warden anymore.”

                “Pardon me,” Josephine objected.  “but I was under the impression that once you became a Warden you were one for life.”

                “That is true,” Caitlyn conceded.  “However, I no longer can sense tainted creatures and the nightmares have gone away.”

                “She isn’t the first Grey Warden to somehow undo their joining,” Cullen pointed out.  “As a matter of fact, the other one is right here in Skyhold as well.”

                “Really?” Selina had never heard of this happening before. 

                “First Enchanter Fiona used to be Warden,” Selina interjected.  “She no longer is, though.  I think the two of you should meet and compare notes.  She would also be interested in finding out who is using time magic as it was used to try and enslave the Rebel Mages to the Tevintor.-  Perhaps you can also figure out how both of you cured the Grey Warden joining.  If the Wardens are no longer tainted, then they are no longer in danger of being corrupted by Corypheus’ false Calling.”

                “I do want to help,” Caitlyn assured them.  “There is just one other thing that I need to take care of, something that the Inquisition could probably help me with.  I need to know what is going on in Highever and I need to get the teryn back for my family.”

                “Has no one told you?”  Lelianna smiled.  “Your brother was found shortly after the arch demon was killed.  Fergus is alive; he is the Teryn of Highever now.”

                After all that had happened to her, Caitlyn found herself once again crying.  This time they were happy tears.  The brother she thought was dead was alive and well.  She was not the last of the Couslands.  She would stay and help the Inquisition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, all comments and suggestions are welcome.


	7. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlyn writes a letter and then a team is formed to find the assassins (or time travelling terrors as I have started calling them).

                Caitlyn was given a rather luxurious room of her own.  She suspected that Josephine was responsible for the scrumptious accommodations.  Ever since she realized that Caitlyn’s brother was the Teryn of Highever, she had insisted on calling her ‘my lady’.  Caitlyn unpacked the items she had still been carrying when she faced the arch demon.  There was not much.  She was financially flushed, but carried few items.  Her armor was dragon scale, made by an expert artisan named Wade.  Then there were her two swords; Starfang, which had been constructed for her from a strange metal that had fallen from the sky, and the Cousland family sword.  The last item was a perfectly preserved rose with velvety petals of deep red that she kept in a jewel encrusted silver box protect it.  She had had Morrigan cast a spell on it so it would never whither.  Morrigan had called her a romantic fool, but she had done as Caitlyn requested.  The rose had been a gift from Alistair.  He had found a perfect rose in the middle of Lothering, a town about to be overrun by darkspawn.  He had said it reminded him of her; a thing of beauty that existed in a land of darkness and despair.  Now that he had moved on with his life, without her, she should probably get rid of it, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to do so.  She hoped that he had found happiness in his life, but she was not willing to give up his keepsake.  Instead she put it in a drawer in the nightstand set by the large canopied bed with a heavy brocade canopy of red and gold.

                She then moved to the heavy chestnut desk set in a corner.  After a short search, she found paper, along with ink and a quill.  She sat down and stared at the paper for a few minutes.   How did one tell a brother that they had not seen in eleven years that you had returned from the dead?  A brother who likely had thought that he was the last of their family left.  Would he think the letter a trick from the Inquisition to gain more of his support?  She would talk to Lelianna in the morning about having a portrait done to send with it, some proof that she was really her.  She thought about sending the family sword as well, but found that she had grown too attached to it to even give it to her only sibling, no matter how much she loved him.  She had used that sword to cut the head off of Arl Rendon Howe; avenging their parents.  She had also used it to defeat Teryn Loghain MacTir in single combat, a man who was not just responsible for the death of the previous king and all but two of Ferelden’s Grey Wardens, but who had helped Howe take down the Couslands.  No, a portrait and letter would have to do.

                _Dear Fergus,_

                She began the letter.

                _Did you miss me?  I have heard that you returned from the dead.  Well, guess what, so have I._

                It took her half an hour to finish the letter; she then climbed into her soft bed and fell into another night of sleep free of the nightmares that had plagued her for a full year.

                In the morning, she was intercepted by Varric as she looked for Lelianna.  He informed her that the spy master spent most of her time in the rookery.  He then again asked to be able to write her story.  He argued that there were others who were as egregiously ignorant of the truth of what had happened in Ferelden during the Blight as Blackwall was.  He wanted to set the record straight, unless she wanted others to believe the lies that Ferelden’s queen and the king’s advisor had obviously spread in their heinous propaganda throughout Thedas.  That hit the right nerve and she agreed to tell her tale.  She promised to meet him for drinks and cards that night, where she would begin her tale for him, starting with the day that she met Duncan.

                She did, indeed, find Lelianna in the rookery and talked to her about the portrait.  The spymaster was excited at the prospect.   “Oh, a portrait would be nice.  We should get you a special dress for it.  Something in a deep green to go with your eyes.  It would need to be velvet or perhaps silk.  We will also need to get shoes to go with it.  Oh and perhaps jewels for your hair.  I like how you have it braided now instead of your usual bun.  It’s a nice change.  We must go shopping as soon as possible.”  The dangerous assassin turned spy master went on for another ten minutes planning out the clothes they would have made and what they would do with her hair.  She then took her down the stairs to the library to meet the team she would be working with to solve the mystery of how and why unknown persons had changed history and to look into a possible cure for the Wardens.

                Caitlyn was first approached by a dark haired, older elf.  There was something familiar about the whisky color of her eyes and her posture.  “I am Fiona,” she introduced herself.  “I hear that you, too, used to be a Grey Warden but have somehow lost the taint.”

                “That appears to be the case,” Caitlyn confirmed.  “I hear that you also have been affected by time travel.”

                “Not to the point that you have, my dear,” Fiona put an arm around her and guided her to a small group that was already assembled.  “But it was enough for me to want to ensure that no one else can mess with the past.”

                Caitlyn knew most of the trio that awaited them.  There was Dorian, lounging in a soft arm chair and looking as if he were about to receive an audience, and Morrigan, with Kieren snuggled tenderly in her arms.  She did not know the third man.  Fiona glared at the man.  “This is Alexius, he is a Venatori Mage who used time magic to try and enslave the mages of southern Thedas and managed to help destroy Thedas in an alternate time line that Dorian and the Inquisitor found themselves stuck in.”

                She studied the old mage.   “Why is he still alive?”

                “Your Inquisitor was smart enough to realize that my research might be valuable and she was right,” he didn’t add that he would have helped her regardless of whether he had been a prisoner or not.  He had only worked for Corypheus to try and save his son.  Felix was now dead and he realized that trying to alter time to save him would not have worked.  Besides, he had heard of the young mage child that those who were messing with time had also killed.  Those who would kill children to further their own ends disgusted him.

                “This is what we know so far,” Morrigan began.  “There were three times, in Ferelden that we know of where the past was changed.  I have talked to Connor and he told me that he had been up in his room, packing his things to go to the circle with Enchanter Irving, when he saw a green flash outside his room.  A man dressed in mage robes walked in and said ‘I’m sorry, but I have to do this’.  The next thing he remembers is waking up in the Fade.”  She did not add that she was enraged that someone would kill the child after she had just gone into the Fade and fought a desire demon to save him. 

                “Why kill the child?”  Fiona was confused.

                “If we knew that, we would have a better idea of who these people were,” Morrigan continued on.  “The next incident was also in Redcliff Castle.  That was Connor’s home, she supplied for the rest of the group.  “Caitlyn and Alistair had agreed that he would go through a ritual with me that would have meant that neither of them had to die when the arch demon was killed.”

                “Why would they have to die?” Dorian was confused.  “Blackwall said that it only had to be a Grey Warden sword used to kill the arch demon.”

                “He obviously lied,” Morrigan was not happy about being interrupted again.  “Kieran would have been the result of that ritual.  However, I saw a green flash outside my room and twenty minutes later, Alistair walked in and told me that he could not go through with ritual.  That going through it would be too much of a betrayal to Caitlyn. ”

                “Like lying to me wasn’t,” Caitlyn murmured. 

                “Kieren is Alistair’s child?” Fiona scrutinized the infant’s features.

                “Damnation!” Morrigan snarled.  “I swear I will turn the next person who interrupts me into a toad!  As I was saying, he announced he would not go through the ritual, and he appeared in Caitlyn’s arms in the Fade.  I will be forever grateful to her for bringing him back to me.  Then Caitlyn saw the same flash on the rooftop of Drakon Fort and she, too, woke up in the Fade.  My theory is that that traveler prevented Alistair from sacrificing himself in Caitlyn’s place.  He is a mighty fool, but he is not the type to sit back and let the woman he loves die when he can stop it.  Irving had brought several mages with him from the circle to help save Connor.  Another mage could have slipped in unnoticed.  In the other two incidents, there were entire armies nearby.  The green flashes were likely delivering the time travelers to their destinations. ”

                Dorian waited until he was sure Morrigan was done talking before he spoke.  He wasn’t sure she could follow through on her threats, but he wouldn’t be nearly as handsome as a toad.  “I believe we should go to both of those sights to see if there are any residual traces of magic left.  I also propose we investigate the areas where rifts that altered time were already found in Redcliff.  Perhaps they could help lead us to the mage who cast the spells.  As there have been multiple hits, it is doubtful that the people behind this have gone back themselves.”

                “Agreed,” Caitlyn nodded.  She didn’t really want to go to Redcliff or Denerim, but she dearly wanted to find those who had taken her life.

                Alexus pulled out piles of research from folders that he had kept under his chair.  “This is what I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, comments and suggestions are welcome. Also, being a mage herself, my Inquisitor recruited Alexius for magical research instead of executing him. She did this for Dorian who believed the man redeemable.


	8. Denerim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see Alistair again.

                Alistair was overseeing his soldiers training when the new rumors out of Skyhold reached him.  He enjoyed the training much more the daily headache of politics.  However, on this day, the soldiers seemed excited.  It soon reached his ear that there was a rumor that when the Inquisitor had fallen into the Fade at Adamant, she came out with someone who had not gone in with her.  Then he heard that it was the Hero of Ferelden.

                When this tale reached Alistair, he felt a sting in his chest, then a tight pounding.  It was as if his heart had begun beating again for the first time in a decade.  She was out there somewhere, alive.  He had to find her.  He was unsure if she would have stayed with the Inquisition or gone on to Weisshaupt.   The Inquisition would be the first place to start.  He practically rushed to his room.  As he entered the lounge area, he called for his Valet, Morson, to prepare a travelling case and to get ready to accompany him to Skyhold.

                He was grabbing his sword and shield when Eamon came in.  “Where are you going?”

                “Skyhold,” Alistair couldn’t help the wide grin that split his face.  “She is somehow alive.  She is out there somewhere and I need to find her.”

                “Who?” Eamon sat in a plush chair in the corner of the room.

                “Caitlyn.” Even saying her name made his heart beat a little faster and made him want to get moving even faster.

                “Caitlyn Cousland?”  Eamon had heard the rumors of her return to Thedas as well, but would not tell his sort-of nephew that.  Alistair was the son of Eamon’s sister’s husband, which is how Eamon had come to be his chief advisor.  “She is dead, Alistair.”  He stated coldly.  “This is obviously some trick by the Inquisition.” 

                Alistair’s heart slowed and dropped.  “Why would they lie about something like this?”

                “They put Emperor Gaspard on the Orlesian throne,” Eamon pointed out.  “I would not be surprised if that mage that leads them let Celene die so she could do so,” he spat out the word ‘mage’ as if it left a disgusting taste on his tongue.  “If you thought they had the woman who helped put you on your throne, they could have some control over you.”

                “I would know if it was her or not the moment I saw her,” Eamon’s words were getting to Alistair, though.  Could it all be a trick?  He had seen her die after all. 

                “Of course,” Eamon waved off any doubt.  “Even if it were not, you could not just abandon your kingdom to run after an old flame.  Think about your wife and your people.  Could you really do that to the woman you bound yourself to in front of Andraste and the Maker?”

                Alistair plumped down on his bed, his face in his hands.  If this were a trick, it was a cruel one.  If it were not, Eamon was right.  He had married Anora and he valued his honor too highly to just throw her over without cause, not when he was bound to her in the eyes of the chantry and the Maker.  He had promised to honor her, even if he could not bring himself to promise to love her.  He ignored the voice that whispered that he had made promises to Caitlyn as well, promises made before those made to Anora.  “You’re right.”

                “Of course I am,” Eamon stood up and laid a gentle hand on Alistair’s shoulder.  “We cannot let the Inquisition get as much control of us as they have Orlais.  We must not be weak, especially now that they have put that warmonger on Orlais’ throne.”

                Alistair merely nodded.  He prayed the Maker had indeed returned Caitlyn to Thedas, even if she could not be in his world.

                Eamon contained his smile until he had left Alistair’s room.  He threw a gold coin at Morson as he passed by the Valet.  “Good work.  Let me know if he tries to leave for Skyhold again.” 

                “My pleasure,” Morson pocketed the gold.  Spying for Eamon and Queen Anora had proven quite profitable. 

                Eamon made his way back to his private rooms, where Anora was waiting for him.  She lounged across his bed, admiring a diamond and sapphire necklace that he had purchased for Isolde.  He planned to send it to his wife in Redcliff as a ‘thinking of you’ present.  “So did you stop him from leaving?”  She knelt on the bed and grabbed his hand to draw to him near her.

                He grinned and ran finger along the opening at the top of the cornflower blue robe that she wore.  “He will stay.  After all, he made vows to you and can not just go chasing after an Inquisition pawn.”

                She dropped the necklace and wrapped her arms around his neck.  “What would I do without you?”

                He pushed down on the bed and opened the robe.  Gripping her now naked waist, he climbed on top of her.  “Let’s hope you never find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again comments and suggestions are welcome. Even if it is to vent at what I might have done to a character you like or dislike.


	9. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of the characters take a break from the angst , mixed with some violence, of their lives to play a game of Wicked Grace.

 

                Leliana looked at her companions assembled around the old wooden table.  It was almost time to get down to business.  “Who are we still waiting for?”

                “Varric is getting Caitlyn now and Dorian asked us to wait for him,” Selina leaned against Cullen’s shoulder, as Josephine shuffled the cards.  She insisted that Cullen sit beside her so and that he let her give him advice on how to play Wicked Grace.  She didn’t want him to end up naked again, which was exactly what had happened last time.

                He kissed the top of her head.  “I’m not too sure about this.”  He didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of her as badly as he had the last time they played, but her insistence that he looked adorable when he lost had cajoled him to play again.

                “It will be worth it to see our spy master pitted against our ambassador,” she assured him.

                From her other side, Cassandra just snorted.  She knew their Antivan ambassador was a card shark.  The woman’s innocent exterior no longer fooled her.

                “Let’s play already,” Sarah took a deep drink from her tankard.

                “Bull,” Lelianna leaned towards him across the table.  “I need your help locating someone.  I want to find Sten, the Qunari who helped fight the arch demon during the Fifth Blight.”

                “Red,” he sighed.  “You know that I am Tal Vashoth now.  I can’t exactly get any messages in and out of Par Vollen.  Why do you need him?”

                “I wanted to plan a surprise reunion for Caitlyn,” Lelianna revealed.  “Zevran is helping us against Lord Enzo.  As soon as we extract him, he will come to Skyhold to see her.  I wanted to get the rest of her companions from the war here as well.”  She didn’t mention that Morrigan kept insisting her little surprise was a bad idea.  She insisted that Caitlyn should be allowed to assimilate into her new life first, but Lelianna knew the woman needed her friends around.

                “Ah, Lelianna’s surprise party,” Dorian walked in, having heard her talking of Zevran.  “I did speak to my friends in Tevintor.  They do remember a dwarf named Shale who had once been a golem.  I think I will track her down soon.”

                “Good,” Leliana grinned.  “I have sent a letter to Denerim to…”  She stopped as Varric walked in, Caitlyn trailing behind him.

                “What is this?” Caitlyn looked at the table and the cards in Josephine’s hand.

                “Wicked Grace,” Josephine began dealing the cards.  “Leliana tells me that you know how to play.”

                “Yes, I do,” Caitlyn sat down next to Cassandra, across the table from Sera.  “I haven’t played in over a decade, though.”

                “There are a lot of things you haven’t done in over a decade,” Dorian wiggled his eyebrows at her.  “Perhaps we should go to the Herald’s Rest tonight and remedy that.  We could find ourselves a couple of men and use them horribly.  I know they will thank us in the morning.”

                “Not funny,” Iron Bull gave Dorian a warning look.

                Josephine was taken back for second.  She had not realized that there was anything going on between the former Qunari spy and the Tevintor mage.   She glanced at her cards, and then changed the subject.  “I am still in negotiations with Redcliffe, my lady.  I have explained to Arl Teagan that you need to look into the matter of time travelling assassins, or time traveling terrors as you insist upon calling them, but he does not seem to believe such things exist.  It does not help that he also swears that you could not have returned from the dead and does not want Fiona anywhere near his lands.”

Fiona and Alexius had told Caitlyn about Alexius’ attempt to enslave the rebel mages and his seizure of Redcliffe Castle in the process.  He had actually thrown Teagan off of his own lands.  Teagan had gone to Alistair, who marched in with Anora and their army just in time to discover that the Inquisition had already taken care of matters.  “Would it do any good if I appeared at the castle gates and showed that I was up walking and talking?”

         “It might if you were willing to do more than just say hello,” Leliana smirked.  “As I recall he had a bit of a crush on you.”

          Caitlyn drew back.  She recalled Teagan being handsome and charming, but she would seduce a man to get what she wanted and Leliana knew it.  She hoped her friend had been joking.  Besides there was a reason she was unwilling to even entertain pursuing a relationship with the older man.  “He is my ex-fiancée’s uncle.”  Well, practically his uncle.  His step-mother was Teagan’s sister.

         “This is the thanks we get after helping him rebuild Redcliffe,” Cullen was once again fed up with the nobles of Thedas.

           “There might be someone else we can appeal to,” Caitlyn pointed out.  “Where is Isolde and has anyone informed her that her son has also returned to the land of the living?”

             “I think we will wait for that surprise.  You will take Connor with you when you go to Redcliffe,” Leliana decided.  “Which is where she reportedly is.  For now, I believe it is time she learns that these assassins also targeted her son.”

              "Uck, politics,” Sera whined.  “Does it have to be boring politics?  Let’s play.”

               “Will you be going with the Inquisitor to the Emerald Graves, Cait?”  Josephine used Leliana’s nickname for Caitlyn

                “We need to find a Red Templar general named Carroll and put an end to him,” Selina interjected.

                “Make it quick, darling,” Cullen requested of Selina.  “I used to know him.  He was a good man.”

                “Carroll?”  Caitlyn looked up from her own cards and glanced at Lelianna, as Josephine started the bidding at two silver pieces.  “We met him, Leliana, at Lake Calenhad.  He didn’t want to take us to Kinloch Keep, not until Shale threatened to smash him into a pulp that is.”  She anteed up as her turn came.   Then turned to Cullen.  “We’ll make sure it’s quick.  That is if I am going as well, Selina.”

                “I would be glad to have you with us,” She reached out and pinned Cullen’s hand as he was about to see the bet, shaking her head.  “I would like me to be the only one who sees you naked today, my love.”

                Caitlyn hid her grin, and then sprang forward, slapping down Sera’s wrist.  As she did, three cards slid out of Sera’s sleeve.  The others put down their cards and looked between the two women. 

                Sera sputtered.  How had the ex-Warden caught her?  “What?  Someone had to finally beat Josephine.”

                “Ugh,” Cassandra snorted.  “Trying to learn this game is hard enough without anyone trying to cheat.”

                Caitlyn flashed Sera a pitying look that had the elf seething.  “Isabella is faster than you and I caught her, too.”

                “You caught Rivaini cheating at cards,” Varric leaned forward excitedly.  “Do tell.”

                “Well,” Caitlyn began.  “It was in Denerim at the Pearl…”


	10. The Emerald Graves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Inquisition hunts down Carroll. There is some inner team fighting.

Caitlyn looked up at the tall trees that surrounded her and took in the beautiful green of her surroundings. The Emerald Graves was indeed a lovely place. It would be nice to live here if it weren’t for the Freeman of the Dales who were preying on the locals, the Red Templars who were searching for something in the area, the giants, and a large dragon that flew by occasionally. She had noticed Cassandra eyeing the beast speculatively. Caitlyn knew that Cassandra was Nevarran royalty and that the family was descended from a long line of dragon hunters.  
“Ever since you joined us, Blackwall has insisted on staying behind in Skyhold,” Sera griped at her.  
Caitlyn wished Sera would insist on staying behind as well. “He doesn’t want to answer uncomfortable questions.” Indeed, Blackwall was avoiding her since she had called bullocks on his claims that he had been in Ferelden during the Fifth Blight.   
“He just doesn’t want to be around someone who is obviously glad that she is no longer a Grey Warden.” Sera sniped.  
“If you admire the Wardens that much, why don’t you join them when this is over?” Caitlyn suggested. The other two recruits at Caitlyn’s joining had died; she half hoped that would be Sera’s fate too. She was sick of the elf’s obvious dislike for her and every other noble. Although, she suspected the elf was just mad to learn that Caitlyn could move faster than her.  
“You are probably glad that now that you are free of the Wardens, you can start punching down on the little people again,” Sera sneered. “I’m surprised that you haven’t sent for any of your servants.”  
Caitlyn took an aggressive step towards Sera that had the archer taking an involuntary step back. “You were in Denerim during the Blight, weren’t you?”  
“Yes,” she conceded.  
“Did you not hear any rumors about what had happened in Highever?” Caitlyn was speaking through clenched teeth.  
“Uh,” she was busy surviving on the street. So people were talking about Highever and unrest there was she supposed to remember what they were saying?  
“Do you want to know what happened to my servants?” Caitlyn took another aggressive step forward.   
Selina moved to interceded, but Cassandra placed a hand on her arm. “Let her get this out.”  
“Would you like to hear about me finding the body of my nanny? She had become our cook when Fergus and I were grown. She was on the floor of the kitchen, a knife in her hand and several of Howe’s guards around her and the kitchen staff that she died defending against them. How about my tutor? His body was in the library. I’m sorry that I can’t remember where each of them was, because I was more concerned about the bodies of my nephew and sister-in-law who never made it out of their rooms. About the body of my mother’s best friend, Lady Landra, she was the wife of Bann Loring, and her son, Dairren, who had only died because they were visiting us,” Caitlyn recalled. “Dairren and I had planned to start courting when he returned with my father from Ostagar. Of course, neither he nor my father ever made it to Ostagar. My parents died together as Rendon Howe’s men sacked our castle. He had always been jealous of my father and planned out the attack with Teryn Loghain. I was forced to leave them behind. All I had left was my duty. I needed to find my brother, and then carry on the family name as my mother had requested. Yet even that was taken from me. Duncan made an agreement with my father to get me out of the castle, but only if I agreed to become a Grey Warden. When I still refused, he conscripted me. That’s where my servants are. They’re all dead.” She turned away from Sera to Selina and Cassandra. “Let’s go find something for me to kill.”  
“This way,” Selina led the way towards the Lion’s Pavilion. They had made it halfway from the camp to the pavilion when a group of Freemen tried to ambush them.  
“Finally,” Caitlyn drew out her swords, as Sera unslung her bow. She danced behind one of her opponents, placing her body between himself and one of his fellow marauders. She twirled, taking them both down in a single move.  
As she moved to her next opponent, Selina sent out a bolt of chain lightening, taking down three adversaries. Cassandra bashed her shield into another foe, while she took down a second with an easy swipe. When Sera let out two arrows, while doing a back flip, hitting both, Caitlyn had to grudgingly admit that the archer might be as good with a bow as Lelianna. Might. She moved in to take down another foe, but they all lay slain in the emerald grass. “That’s it?” She protested.  
Sera laughed. “We’ll find more.” She hated to admit that the snooty, albeit tragic, noble could definitely fight. She would never forgive her for catching her cheating at cards, though. “Just don’t throw up on me again, like you did this morning.”  
“I told you that I wasn’t aiming for you,” Caitlyn protested.  
“Are you sure you are feeling all right?” Cassandra pressed.  
“I’m fine,” Caitlyn assured her. “I just felt nauseous this morning.”  
“And yesterday morning?” Selina prompted.   
“Then, too. Maybe it is a side effect of being left in some sort of suspended animation for so long.”  
“That could be it,” Selina conceded as the moved on.   
When they made it to the Pavilion, Carroll and his men attacked. Caitlyn could not believe that the monstrosity before her, with red shards sticking out of thick skin, had used to be the awkward, nervous Templar who had not wanted to ferry her to Kinloch hold. She attacked, swinging both swords in an intricate pattern that she called the punisher, while a lightning storm sprung up around him. She admired Selina’s handiwork. Not a single lightning bolt touched her.   
Soon Cassandra and Sera had taken care of Carroll’s soldiers. Caitlyn dodged the heavy sword Carroll swung at her. She stepped on her right foot and used it to pivot behind him; she stabbed him with her family sword, as she used Starfang to cut off his head. As his body crumpled to her feet she looked down at him. “He once said that if I were a Warden, then he was the Queen of Antiva. Why did he leave Kinloch hold? How did the chantry not protect its people? How did Ferelden let this happen to its people?”  
“No one has been able to stop this,” Cassandra pointed out. “But we are trying.”  
Caitlyn nodded, and then threw up on Carroll’s body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, critiques, and suggestions are welcome. As for Caitlyn and Sera's relationship, I felt that Sera would hold Caitlyn's high ranking birth against her for awhile, considering how she feels about nobles.


	11. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlyn sees a letter that she isn't supposed to.

Skyhold would always be an impressive sight, Caitlyn thought as she rode towards the impressive castle that sat vigil over the peaks of the Frostback Mountains.  She had been without a real home since Rendon Howe had attacked Highever, yet this felt like it could be one.  Of course, so had Denerim at one point.  She squashed that thought; she could not dwell on unfulfilled dreams if she wanted to move forward with the life the Maker had given back to her.

As she rode through the impressive gates into the stronghold, she noticed the Inquisition’s commander running through one of the doors into his office and racing down the stairs.  She wondered if the Inquisitor would get to the stables before he pulled her off of her horse. Nope, Selina was only half way to the stables, when Cullen lifted her off of her horse and into his arms.  The pair was locked in a smoldering embrace as she passed them.  Master Dennet had already come to fetch Selina’s horse.

Caitlyn guided Anastasia into her stall and began removing her saddle and bags.  One of the stable boys walked up quietly behind her.  “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Uh,” he stammered.  “Lady Montilyet needs to see you immediately.  I will finish up with your horse, Hero.”

“Who?”  She hated being called the Hero of Ferelden.  Why didn’t they just call her Unlucky Noble Turned Warden Who Got Lucky and Stabbed an Arch Demon?

“Your ladyship,” he corrected.

Caitlyn sighed and rubbed a hand down her horses’ neck.  “Take care of him Anastasia; don’t bite him too hard if he doesn’t take care of you just right.  With that she made her way to Josephine’s office.

She found the ambassador sitting behind her desk; She was moving a quill from hand to hand, as if nervous.  “Oh, there you are good.  I don’t suppose you know where the Inquisitor is?  I needed to talk to her as well.”

“The last time I saw Selina, she was being led toward the Commander’s office, by Cullen,” Caitlyn enlightened her.  “If you wanted to see her immediately upon her arrival, you should have beaten Cullen to her.  How fast can you run?”

Josephine rubbed one of her temples.  “I guess it is for the best.  The last time I insisted that she come to my office first, I walked in to find everything that had been on my desk on the floor and the pair of them wearing sheepish expressions.”

“What was so urgent this time?”  Caitlyn would rather be checking on Kieren.  She knew he was fine, Morrigan absolutely doted on her baby, and she just missed the little guy.  Then a hopeful thought crossed her mind.  “Were you able to get Fiona and I both into Redcliff castle?”

“Oh, yes,” Josephine’s voice brightened.  “It seems that your suggestion worked.  Lady Isolde will be happy to welcome the pair of you to what she insists is still her home as much as Teagone’s”

                “That’s new,” the first time she had been to Redcliff castle, Isolde had been a bit cold to her and she had actually snuck through the family’s secret escape route into the castle.   Of course, the woman didn’t want anyone to know that Connor had been possessed by a desire demon.

                “The reason that I wanted to see you is that Emperor Gaspard is here with several of his advisors and personal guards,” Josephine announced.

                “Do you want me to take out his guards?” Caitlyn wondered.  She was Ferelden, what did Orlais have to do with her unless they were trying to invade her country again.

                “What?” Josephine reeled back in her chair.  “No!  Gaspard would like to meet with you.  He is interested in peace talks with Ferelden, but cannot get past Eamon to speak with King Alistair.  You are the highest ranking member of Ferelden nobility in Skyhold.”

                “I haven’t set foot in Ferelden in over ten years,” Caitlyn pointed out.  “I’m not the biggest authority on court politics at the moment.

                “True,” Josephine conceded.  ‘However, I believe you know King Alistair personally.”

                Caitlyn coughed.  “Yes, I knew him.  As a matter of fact, at one point I _knew_ him.”

                “What?”  Josephine comprehended her meaning.  “You mean you two…” she pointed her index fingers at each other and brought them together.  “You two have had…”

                Caitlyn wished that Josephine had some extra chairs in her office so she could sit down.  Why weren’t there extra sitting places in the office?  “I thought Lelianna told you everything.  Alistair, King Alistair, is my ex-fiancée.”

                “So when you called the woman your fiancée married a thrice cursed whore spawn, you were referring to Queen Anora,” Josephine looked mortified.

                “That would be her,” Caitlyn confirmed.

                “No wonder you get along so well with Morrigan,” the other woman muttered under her breath.  “I will set up a meeting between you and Gaspard then.  Please, refrain from calling any of his relatives by such colorful names.”

                “Sorry,” Caitlyn shook her head.  “They are Orlesians; I can make no such promises.”  She walked out, heading towards the garden, as Josephine lowered her head to her desk.

                Caitlyn spied Morrigan, rocking Kieren, as soon as she stepped out into the Garden.  She was walking near the gazebo, rocking her baby gently in her arms as she sang to him.  She was surprised to learn that the witch had as enticing a voice as Lelianna did.  She could here Morrigan’s words rise softly above the serine garden.

                _Oh, rugged mountains all around_

_Please watch over my father’s mound_

_As the sky is filled with fire and smoke_

_We will wield the killing stroke_

_If this is to end in ice and fire_

_We will still fight this terror_

_Watch the mountains come down_

_We must fight or flee this town_

_I see fire coming down the mountain_

_I see snow and ice flowing through the trees_

_Our Haven is no long safe_

_As Red Templars try to end our fate_

_We will fight against this new foe_

_And avenge our fallen friends_

_If I do not make it, remember me_

 

                Caitlyn was surprised to realize that Morrigan was singing about the destruction of Haven.  She had not thought her friend to be that sentimental.  Although she was not surprised that that was the type of music she chose to sing to her baby.

                Morrigan looked over at her and actually smiled sheepishly.  “I do not know any lullabies.”

                “I only know one or two,” Caitlyn admitted.  “He obviously likes whatever you sing, though,” she looked down at the sleeping baby.

                “I have been needing to talk to you,” she changed the subject “How long have you been back”

                “Only long enough to apparently make Josephine’s life harder,” Caitlyn grinned.

                “Whatever did you do to the sick in the mud,” Morrigan wondered.  “Did you use the wrong fork or insult the Emperor of Orlais?  I hear he is around here somewhere.”

                “No, just the Queen of Ferelden,” she studied her friend.  “Does she realize that when you refer to ‘the Idiot’ that you are talking about the King of Ferelden?”

                The palpitations that would give the ambassador appealed to Morrigan.  “Perhaps you should make sure that she finds that out.  I wanted to speak with you about this horrid surprise reunion that Lelianna is planning for you.”

                “The what?”  She wanted to see her old friends and companions, but not all together.  It was hard enough keeping some of them from killing each other when they were united in trying to end the Blight.  “We need to talk to her about this,” she started walking towards the rookery, with Morrigan following her.

                “She let the ‘little surprise’ slip when your brother sent word that he could not attend,” Morrigan revealed.

                Caitlyn glanced back at her as she began climbing the second flight of stairs to the rookery.  “Why not?  Is everything all right?”

                “It is my understanding that his wife is pregnant again and that there have been a few complications,” she pulled her own baby closer at just the thought.  “He does not want her travelling, but is not willing to leave her side.  He would like you to visit him instead.  There is likely a letter waiting for you from him.”

                Caitlyn nodded.  Fergus had remarried, she was happy for him.  This also meant that she would have a new niece or nephew.  The Couslands had not been destroyed after all.  “I will make sure that I get back to Highever when we investigate time anomalies. “  They were walking through the library and making their way to the last flight of stairs.  She realized that she had not been home since Howe’s forces sacked her family castle.  

                When they stepped into the rookery, they discovered that it was empty.  “Where has she gone off to now?” Morrigan huffed.

                “She is probably smoothing Josephine’s feathers, I ruffled her rather badly,” Caitlyn noticed a letter on Lelianna’s desk.  The hand writing looked familiar.  Was that the letter from her brother?  She picked it up and began to read.  It was not from Fergus.  It was from Alistair.

 

                _Dear Lelianna,_

               

                _I regret that I must decline your fair invitation to Skyhold.  While I would dearly love to see my companions from my time fighting the Fifth Blight, I fear that it would not be what is best for me or for my kingdom.  As for Caitlyn Cousland, whom you wanted to surprise, I wish to keep my distance from her for the time being.  I have been reminded of vows that I made before the chantry, and therefor before the Maker and Andraste._

_While this may not be what I want personally, my honor and my kingdom must come first.  If I see her, those may be in danger so I shall stay where I am needed._

                Caitlyn dropped the letter with a choked cry.  His honor and his kingdom were his priority?  The man who had agreed that they would stay together no matter what, the one who had sworn he would always love her, did not even want to see her.  She threw a hand over her mouth to try and keep her sobs contained and ran down the stairs.

                “Caitlyn?” Morrigan almost chased after her friend, but wanted to see what was in the letter.  Caitlyn had not finished.

 

                _… so I shall stay where I am needed.  However, I beg you, Lelianna, to watch her as I can not.  Even though I can not be by her side, I thank the Maker every day that she has been returned to us.  It is as if the stars in the heavens have been returned.  For there is a light here that was not before.  While I must only gaze at those stars from the distant ground, the light that they give adds brightness to the world._

_Yours through these tough times,_

_Alistair, King of Ferelden_

_P.S.  Do not let her go on any dangerous missions with your Inquisitor.  I know how she loves to head out into danger.  I still love her more than anything else in this world and cannot bear the thought of her on the front lines in the fight against Corypheus._

                “The fool,” Morrigan hissed.  She was tempted to turn into a raven and fly to Ferelden to give the idiot a piece of her mind.  She had a baby to care for now, though.  She couldn’t tell Alistair what she thought of him, but she could tell Lelianna.  The thought of picking a fight with the spymaster cheered her.  She noticed a second post script as she set down the letter.

 

                _P.S.S.  I have heard that Morrigan is at Skyhold.  Please keep her separated from Caitlyn, I fear what undue influence Morrigan may have._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lullaby is song to the melody of I See Fire, as the words were inspired by the song.  
> Once again comments and suggestions are welcome.


	12. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emperor Gaspard comes to Skyhold

Caitlyn was in a foul mood when she woke.  Her stomach matched her disposition, although it did feel better once she threw up.  Maybe she should see a healer.  The nausea probably came from the fact that she had a meeting scheduled with Emperor Gaspard the next day.  Why couldn’t they find someone else to deal with him?  She might be the highest ranked Ferelden around, but she was virtually an exile from her country. 

                She grabbed her swords, dressed in armor, and headed down to the practice ring set in Skyhold’s courtyard.  Then announced that she was taking on all challengers.  Word quickly spread that the Hero of Ferelden was fighting Skyhold’s best.

                When Lelianna and Josephine approached the practice ring, Cullen’s top five lieutenants were sitting on the ground nursing their wounds and Varric had started betting pools and Iron Bull was helping him.  The visiting Orlesians had happily joined in and were waiting for their turn to take on the legendary Ferelden.  “What is going on here?” Lelianna demanded to know.

                Cassandra had been watching from nearby, she watched as Caitlyn pivoted around her opponent, swinging her pair of long swords in synchronization.  The rogue’s long braid swung in time to the rhythm of her swords.  “She came down and announced that she needed to work through her issues, then started taking on challengers.”

                The crowd gasped as one, as Gaspard’s head guard hit the ground, Caitlyn’s sword at his throat.  “Next!” She called.  Sure enough, another challenger was ready.

                “She is probably pretending they are all the Idiot,” Morrigan walked up from behind them.  She had just left Kieren nursing with Dannu and came to watch the entertainment.  “You did leave his letter on your desk.”

                “She read that letter,” Lelianna moaned.

                “Only the first half,” Morrigan coldly sneered at the other woman.  “You know the part where he rejected her for his honor and duties.  Wynne would have been very proud.”

                Lelianna needed to find a way to lock the rookery when she was not in there.  Yes, others might need to send messages, but things kept happening when she was away.  Just a few weeks before, Cullen and Selina had both gone up there, independently, looking for her.  She was unsure what happened, but everything on her desk had been rearranged.  “At least Zevran and Shale are coming.”

                “This reunion is a bad idea,” Morrigan predicted.  As she watched, Caitlyn’s latest opponent went down.  Then a familiar figure stepped into the ring. 

A mask covered the top of his face, but his close cropped dark hair and beard, as well as muscular frame made it evident to those who knew him who he was.  “Oh, no,” Josephine murmured.  “Could he not wait until tomorrow to meet her?”

“This was too tempting for him to resist,” Lelianna sighed.

Caitlyn sized up her new opponent.  There was something familiar about him, but she could not place it.  “Is that mask supposed to intimidate me?”

“You have taken on seven challengers already,” he pointed out in a distinct Orlesian accent.  “You are no longer a Grey Warden, so you no longer have their stamina to keep fighting.  I will go easy on you if you would like.”

“You seem to know a lot about me,” she slowly circled her newest foe, gaining his measurement.  He was well muscled, yet his accent indicated that, like her, he was nobility.  Orlais’ nobles did not often stay as fighting ready as did Ferelden’s.  For some reason, that made her curious about him.  “Have we met?”

“I know more about you than you know,” he took a testing swing at her, which she easily dodged.  Indeed, she had once been on his list of potential brides.  A union with the only daughter of Bryce Cousland would have been truly advantageous in his quest to get his throne back.  Gaspard deChalons found he had to move quickly to block the low swing of one of her swords at his legs.

“Why am I of such great interest to you?” She parried his next attack as if she were making no great effort to fight him.

“You are an interesting woman,” he almost regretted using a shield bash on her, but was quickly learning that her reputation as a fighter was well earned.  She had beaten the man who was once King Maric’s top general in single combat after all.  He was surprised when his shield met with air, she simply was not there.  He sensed her behind him.  “You are not just a skilled warrior; you are intelligent, determined, and canny.”  He swung his sword low and was unsurprised when she leapt over the blade.

He was surprised however when he felt the tip of one of her blades against where his chest plate protected his heart.  “Am I?”

He dropped his sword and shield in defense.  “You are.   You are also as beautiful as your reputation claims.”  He surprised them both when his hand shot out to the back of her neck and he kissed her.  “I hope to see you again.”

Caitlyn was so shocked that she dropped Starfang.

“So who actually won that round?”  Varric asked.

                “I think he did,” Iron Bull hooted.

                Josephine fainted to the ground.

 

 

                Caitlyn was in a better mood when she entered the Herald’s rest that night.  She did not want to attribute any of the improvement on the well-built Orlesian who had the impertinence to kiss her earlier.  Was it part of the infamous ‘game’ of Orlais?  She didn’t think their warriors were as into playing such games.  He said he knew of her though. 

                Her thoughts were interrupted as Varric came over to her.  “There you are, Rose.  Bull’s Chargers have returned from Adamant Fortress; they were tearing the fort down.  They want to meet you.”  He did not wait for her answer, just pulled her over to the group.

                She tried to keep those in attendance strait.  She had already met Iron Bull’s second in command, Krem, the Tevintor ex-soldier.  There was also Grimm who said little, Stitches who was their company healer, Rocky who was a dwarf from Orzammar who liked to blow things up, and the Dalish Archer who was just called Dalish.  Dalish’s ‘bow’, however, was definitely a mage’s staff.

                “I have been to Orzammar,” Caitlyn confided.

                “I know,” Rocky admitted.  “You put king Harrowmant on his throne.  He was always afraid that you were going to come back and take it away.  Well, he was until you died that is.”

                “Rocky,” Iron Bull growled out a warning.

                “What?” He wanted to know.

                “You do not talk about how someone died right in front of them,” Krem hissed.

                Caitlyn had to grin at that, as she settled back to get to know Bull’s mercenary group.  He was obviously very proud of them.  They had just finished their first round of drinks when the tavern grew quiet.  She looked to see what had caused the disruption and saw a group of Oresians walk in.  The man in the lead had fine chiseled features, it wasn’t until she took in his close cropped hair and beard and his figure that she realized it was the man who had kissed her that morning.

                “Emperor Gaspard!” The bar tender squeaked.  “Your eminence, what can I do for you?”

                Gaspard spoke softly to the bartender, and then sat at a table in a far corner.  Soon the bartender brought Caitlyn a glass.  “It is our finest Antivan wine,” he held it out to her.  “A gift from Emperor Gaspard to you.  He asks that you join him at his table.”

                Caitlyn took the glass and stared at it.  First he had challenged and then kissed her this morning and now this.

                “Go for it, Rose,” Varric encouraged.  “Go find out the inner workings of the head Orlesian’s mind.  Then tell me all about it later.”

                It was just a drink, what could it hurt?  She stood up and walked to the table.  Gaspard flashed her a grin.  “Come sit with me.  Tell me more about yourself.”

                “I though you already knew all about me,” she reminded him as she slid into the chair across from him.

                “I admit that I had discussed you with your father, when I last saw him… what was it?... thirteen years ago?”  He thought back.

                “Why?” Her brows knit together.

                “I will tell you someday, but not today,” he waved off her question.

                “Oh, you plan to have more drinks with me?” She quipped.

                “Of course,” he grinned.

                “I am just wondering why there is no one I have to fight for buying you that one,” he indicated the glass before her.

                “Well, I was mostly dead for ten years,” she informed him.  “During that time, my fiancé married someone else.”

                “He is a fool,” he did remember rumors out of Ferelden about Maric’s royal bastard being engaged to Bryce Cousland’s little spitfire.  The engagement had been formed in front of the entire bannorn.  There were some legal implications there that Gaspard did not want to think about.  Not when she was sitting before him with her big green eyes dark with sadness and her bright red curls snaking down the back of the simple ivory gown that she wore.

                “He is,” she gave a half grin.  “He is just no longer my fool.”

                He leaned across the table and ran a finger down her cheek to rest under her chin.  He maneuvered her head up so he could look into her eyes.  “I don’t believe you realize how attractive your broken heart makes you.  In a woman who was already as beautiful as you, that is indeed powerful.  It makes others want to mend it for you.”  He leaned even closer and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

                She drew back.  “For such a short acquaintance, you have been taking several liberties.”

                “My forgiveness, my lady.  I shall court you some more before I next try to steal a kiss,” he promised.

                She blinked.  Were they courting?  When had that started?  Where was she?  “Um… thank you?”

                “So,” he leaned in slightly, placing a hand under his chin.  “Have you read the latest addition of Hard in Hightown?”

                “You forget that I was mostly dead and have been helping to fight Corypheus,” she reminded him.  “I have barely made it through the first volume.  It does help that the author lives here in Skyhold.”

                “Who do you think the killer is?” He prompted.  “Varric refuses to tell me.”

 

 

                Caitlyn was smiling when she walked into Josephine’s office the next morning.  She had woken up without her stomach giving her any trouble and slept peacefully once again.  She wasn’t sure which was better about getting rid of the taint caused by the Grey Warden joining; reverting to a normal life span or the end of the nightmares.  She briefly wondered if the nausea that she had been dealing with for all those weeks was just the taint leaving her system. 

The ambassador had arraigned for chairs to be brought in.  Gaspard and Fiona were both already seated, along with one of Gaspard’s advisors, waiting for her.  Gaspard stood as she entered; he grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on the back of it.  “Thank you for joining us, my lady.”

Josephine came in as Gaspard kept his grip on Caitlyn’s hand until she had sat down.  He then addressed the room.  “I know that I originally came with the intent of introducing the idea of peace talks with Ferelden.  That is still in my future plans, but there is a more pressing matter that I would like to address.”

Josephine settled into her chair.  She was afraid that Gaspard was reacting poorly to a letter he had received from Eamon Guerrin attempting to rebuff Gaspard’s attempts to speak directly with Alistair.  It was obvious that the Ferelden advisor was not enthusiastic about peace accords with their longtime rival, which surprised her considering the former Arl was married to an Orlesian.

                “If you have changed your mind about approaching Alistair, then perhaps I should go,” Caitlyn started to stand up. 

                “No, my lady,” Gaspard hastily raised a hand.  “I still need you.  I asked Fiona to join us here as well, as I would like to ask the Inquisition if perhaps they could cure the Grey Wardens of the Calling.”  He turned to Josephine.  “You have the only two people who have been cured of the taint here is Skyhold, yet they have done little to save those who could still be under Corypheus’ false Calling.”

                “Well, excuse me for being more worried about hunting down those who arranged my death,” Caitlyn retorted.

                “Hero,” Josephine began, but stopped when Caitlyn glared at her.  She knew that Caitlyn despised being called The Hero of Ferelden, a nickname bestowed on her by people she felt betrayed by. 

                Gaspard tried not to smile, he liked that she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him.  “I understand that they are still a danger.  Thus, I am offering the empire’s resources at your disposal to solve this problem.  Anything you need, you need but ask for.”

                “Thank you,” Fiona spoke up.  “You do realize, your grace, that neither of is sure how we managed to break the taint.

                “How did you first realize that it was gone?” Gaspard pressed.

                Fiona was hesitant to speak.  The secret was not just hers to bear and she had kept it for thirty years.  “I realized that I was pregnant.  Then I realized I could no longer feel the darkspawn or my fellow Wardens, she explained.”  That is all she was willing to say about the matter.

                “I have plans to leave for Redcliff in only a couple of weeks,” Caitlyn objected.  “We need to find those who are messing with time before they strike again.”

                “I doubt that they will, now that they know we are on to them,” Josephine assured her.  Sending people through time was not an easy matter, at least that is what Dorian and Alexius kept insisting.  “Besides, the King of Ferelden is, himself, a Warden.  He would likely ensure that you had access to where ever you wanted in his country if you cured his taint.”

                Fiona blanched at that comment.  Caitlyn knew the other woman did not look forward to going to Denerim anymore than she did, but she was not sure why a reminder of Alistair’s condition.  Alistair.  Caitlyn wondered if Josephine knew what a low blow brining him up was.  “Fine, agreed.”  She sighed.

                “I look forward to working with you,” Gaspard smiled smugly at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, comments, critiques, and so forth are welcome.  
> After one must fight a duel for Josephine if romancing her, I decided that she is the fainting type.


	13. Redcliffe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some of our heroes investigate Redcliffe as they look into who used the rifts to travel back in time. Some people obviously do not like them poking around and Caitlyn gets some shocking news.

 

                The Orlesian entourage had left only a few days before Caitlyn and Fiona departed for Redcliff.   Gaspard had made a point of seeking Caitlyn out very day, if only to spend an hour or so with her.  They had gone on long horseback rides in the mountains, walked the ramparts as they admired Skyhold’s amazing views, watched the Inquisition soldiers train, shared meals, and discussed Master Varric Tetris’ latest works.  Who knew that Gaspard was such a fan of Varric’s crime serial?

                On the night before he left, Caitlyn had returned Gaspard’s kisses for the first time.  Part of her heart had protested, screaming that she was being unfaithful to the man she did love.  She squelched that part, not letting it interfere with her efforts to find a future.  She did not love Gaspard yet, but he was undeniably charming and she found that she enjoyed his company.  If her parents had not decided to let her marry for love, she wondered what they would have thought of Gaspard as a potential husband.  He was Orlesian and her father had fought to drive the Orlesian invaders from her country, but there was no denying that such a union would make Ferelden’s second most powerful family, the one that was second only to the Theirins: Ferelden’s Royal Family, even more of a force to contend with.  She had a new nephew or niece on the way and tying their family to the Orlesian crown would mean that if anyone wanted to take the Couslands down again, they would have to deal with Orlais. 

                The protesting voice had been even weaker when Gaspard had enthusiastically kissed her goodbye in front of the entire Inquisition, promising to write.  When she had turned from the departing emperor, her reactions from her friends had been varied.  Vivienne had looked smug.  Iron Bull pumped his fist in the air, approving of the public display of affection.  Cole looked sad. Varric muttered something about plot twists.

                She had walked to Cole and asked what was wrong he merely said “She said that it was selfish and must be sacrificed for duty.  She hurt him, by not telling him.  They took Rhys, but she never realized that some things are not worth sacrificing.”  Then he walked away.

                Caitlyn still didn’t know what Cole meant by his statement.  She had learned that Rhys was the name of Wynn’s son.  He had been taken against her will, though.  She wanted to ask Cole what he meant, but he never did say.  Plus, he had left with Selina the next day.

                The Inquisitor had answered a call from Orzammar for help.  They were experiencing unusual earthquakes that were destroying lyrium mines.  If the lyrium trade faltered, it would just add more chaos to Thedas.  Caitlyn had offered to postpone her trip to Redcliff to help, but Iron Bull reminded her of the comment that Rocky had made about Harrowmant possibly wanting her dead.  Cullen wasn’t happy that Selina had left Vivienne and Dorian behind for Caitlyn when she left Skyhold the day before Caitlyn herself had left.  Of course, Cullen was never happy when Selina left Skyhold without him.

                Caitlyn now entered Redcliff village.  Accompanying her were Fiona, Dorian, and Connor.  As Connor was there, Vivienne insisted that she were coming along as well.  Once she had taken the boy under her wing, she had taken her duties to teach and protect him seriously.  She was livid that Selina seemed determined to destroy the circles and Connor was a prime example of why those circles were needed.  Varric and Cassandra had also insisted on accompanying her instead of Selina.  She would have liked Cassandra’s aid on this trip, but Cassandra was sure something big and horrible was going to attack Selina.  Varric, on the other hand, hated the Deep Roads and did not want to go down into them.  Caitlyn agreed with him on that count, they were too tight and one did not see the sun again until they left.

                The groups’ first stop was outside the gates leading into the town.  “This is where we encountered the first rift that seemed to distort time,” Varric announced, dismounting from his horse.

                Caitlyn’s breath caught as she looked around.  She had a clear recollection of the first time she had been here, when Alistair had revealed the truth of his parentage to her.  He had been so nervous about telling her.  He knew she would be upset that he had kept the secret from her, especially as he had lied when she asked him about his family before.  She remembered how his nervousness gave a cute, boyishness to his handsomeness and how he had waited for her to lash out at him for lying to her.  She hadn’t.  She had just teased him about not just being a bastard, whom he had already told her, but a royal bastard.  The truth was that she could care less about who his parents were.  At least at the time, she hadn’t cared.  Now she wondered if things would have ended up differently for them if he had just been a ‘big nobody’, his words, as he wanted her to believe he was.

                “What’s wrong?” Fiona placed a hand on her shoulder.

                “This is where I was when Alistair told me the truth about who his parents were,” she admitted “It is just a little hard to come back here.”  They had had such bright hopes for their future together when they were here.

                Fiona’s arm slid across her back and pulled Caitlyn to her side.  “I knew Maric.  He had such hopes for his sons.  He regretted that he wasn’t able to raise both of them himself.”

                “Why not?”  Caitlyn pulled away.  “After Eamon married Isolde, she treated Alistair horridly, thinking he was really Eamon’s child.  Why wouldn’t Maric just claim his child and take him home?  Was it because his mother was just some star struck maid he had a one night fling with?”

                “His mother…” Fiona began, but was cut off.

                “Caitlyn!” Vivienne snapped, covering Connor’s ears with her hands.  “Not in front of the child.”

                “I’m sure he has heard this all before,” Cailtyn did drop the subject, though.

                Dorian soon announced he had the magical tracings that he needed.

                “Come on, Rose,” Varric made sure Bianca was secure on his back.  “Let’s go see if Redcliffe has recovered from the Mage Templar War.”

                She examined the village as she rode through.  Some of it was familiar, but parts had definitely changed.  There were definitely more people milling around.  Although, the first time she had come here the town was under siege by the undead.  The last time, they were being attacked by Darkspawn.  A couple of bridges had obviously been replaced and the shops were more spread out.  There were definitely more of them.  There were also more ships by their deep, wide river.

                Lloyd’s tavern had had a facelift.  The last that Caitlyn had known Bella had taken over the tavern when Lloyd had died defending Redcliffe.  She wasn’t sure if Bella still owned it, but its name had changed.  It was now the Gull and Lantern.

                Not far from the tavern was the local chantry.  It was far emptier than the last time that Cailtyn had been in there.  On that occasion, it housed women and children who were seeking refuge from the undead that were plaguing their village.  Now, there was only Reverend Mother Hannah.  The reverend mother gasped when she saw Caitlyn and put her hands to her mouth.  Then she saw Connor as well.  “Is this some trick from the Fade?”

                “I guess she hadn’t heard the rumors,” Dorian smirked at her

                “No, reverend,” Varric held up both arms.  “This is a blooming miracle from the Maker Himself.  Spread the word to all of your congregation.  First he gave us the Herald of Andraste and then he returned the Hero of Ferelden and threw in a little boy as well.”

                “There was also a baby,” Dorian added, enjoying Varric’s proclamation.

                “Arl Teagan should have sent you word that we were coming,” Fiona added, as she and Dorian began investigating the area where Selina had closed a time warping rift on her visit to Redcliffe.

                “Ah… of … course,” Hannah stammered.  “He merely said it would be the Inquisition, he did not say who.”

                “So,” Varric sat, making himself more comfortable.  “You haven’t finished telling me your story, Rose.  You have obviously been here.   Tell me about it“

                She smiled and sat down beside him.  “I am sure you have heard about how the town was being overrun by the undead, which I will tell you more about when Connor isn’t in ear shot. “  Hannah had taken Connor off to one of the side rooms, probably to find cookies for the little boy she had once known.  “I met Arl Teagan he was Bann Teagan then, right here for the first time.  He was a shameless flirt… at least with me.”  She didn’t recall seeing him flirt with any of the other women in her party.  Maybe he had been serious in his intent; she had soon become distracted by someone else and may not have noticed.

                “Flirting in the chantry,” Dorian piped up, obviously having been listening in.  “How scandalous.”

                “Not as scandalous as what happened next,” she revealed.

                “Oh, do tell,” Dorian continued to work with Fiona, but was obviously interested in the chantry’s past.

                “Alistair must have taken Teagan’s flirting with me seriously,” she recalled.  “When I turned around, he was glaring at his uncle.  I stopped to talk to him near the doors and he started asking me all kinds of questions.  At first they were about the blight and then he started asking about my feelings.  The next thing I knew, he had grabbed me and kissed me.”  She still remembered that first kiss; he had pulled her close and held her to him as his firm lips softly caressed hers, when she pulled him closer the caress had turned into something harder and much more passionate.

                “How was the kiss?” Dorian prompted.

                Caitlyn blushed.  “It was …” She saw the flash and the light hurling towards her.  She raised her swords, crossing them to block the spell that had been hurled at her.

                Varric had Bianca out and all three of her mage companions quickly grabbed their staffs.  “There he is,” Varric pointed Bianca up into the rafters and shot a single bolt. 

                A man in robes screamed as he fell to the floor at their feet, the bolt was firmly in his knee cap.  Cailtyn put one of her sword tips to his throat.  “You just tried to kill me. Why?”

                “I don’t know how you managed to come back,” he snarled at her.  “But they will see that a new pyre is made for you.”

                “They who?”  Varric pointed Bianca at the man’s head.

                “Who wants me dead?  Who took my life from me?  Why?”  Caitlyn needed to know the who as much as the how, especially if the assassins were still after her.

                “They are too highly placed for you for me to dare betraying them or for even you to try and catch them.”  He laughed hysterically for a minute then caught on fire.

                “Fools,” Vivienne blasted him with ice, but it was too late.  The mage was dead.

                Caitlyn studied the body, and then knelt to search his pockets.  “He looks familiar somehow, but I’m not sure where I have seen him.”  She found five gold pieces, an amulet, and a note.  The note read _It appears that your services are needed again. We must find an unguarded rift and send someone back once again.  If only that damned Inquisitor would stop closing them._

                “Oh, poor maniacal killers,” Caitlyn turned to Dorian who was reading over her shoulder.  “Is Selina making their assassinations more difficult?”

                She turned back to the note and continued reading.  _Meet me at our normal spot.  I do not know how Cousland managed to slip out of death’s door, but we will find a way to shove her back through again.  If you can no longer send our people through the rifts we will find a more direct way to force her to the Maker’s side._

                “Well, my dear,” Vivienne raised an eyebrow.  “It would appear that you are their main target.  How unfortunate for you.”

                “We’re done here,” Fiona walked to the dead mage.  “He used to belong to the Ferelden Circle of Magi.  You could remember him from the time you saved the mages from Ulrich.”

                “That is gratitude for you,” Caitlyn wondered why she bothered saving Thedas, it just kept coming back to bite her in the backside.   “Let’s get to the castle.  Someone go get Connor and tell Hannah that she has a body that needs disposing of.”

 

 

                Arl Teagan met them personally at the castle’s gates.  It had been over ten years since Caitlyn had seen him.  She could say with confidence that the years had not been kind.  The rugged good looks that Teagan had enjoyed as a Bann had become gaunt and rough.  He once smooth cheeks were a bit sunken and his skin looked worn.  He had apparently tried to hide these changes by cutting his hair extremely short and hiding it under a regrettable hybrid of a muffin cap and a tam.  The hat sat just above his eyes, drawing attention to how small they were. 

                “Teagan?” Was this really him?   What had happened in the last ten years to do this to him?

                “Caitlyn?”  He took a step back.  “Sweet Maker, It really is you.”

                “Teagan,” his sister-in-law, Isolde, stepped up from behind him.  “If you are going to let the Inquisition poke around our castle, then let them in.  If not, send them on their way again.”

                Caitlyn knew that Leliana had arraigned their meeting through the blonde Orlesian.  She wondered why Isolde was acting so indifferent now.  Perhaps living with Isolde all these years is what had drained Teagan so badly.  “It’s nice to see you again, Isolde.”

                “Mamma?”  Connor’s voice came from behind her.

                “Connor!”  Isolde literally knocked down three of Redcliff’s knights who were foolish enough to not get out of her way as she raced towards her son.  She gathered the boy into her arms, and then burst into tears.

                “It’s O.K., Mamma,” Connor held on to his mother.  “Vivienne says that I am safe now and she is teaching me how to control my magic.”

                Isolde turned her tear streaked face to Caitlyn.  “She didn’t say he came back from the dead with you.”

                “He did,” Caitlyn confirmed.  “The Inquisitor saved both of us.”

                “Come into my home,” Isolde ignored Teagan and his knights as she led the way in.

                Within an hour, Isolde had rooms arraigned for her guests and dinner was being served in the great hall.  Teagan was still trying to figure out how he had lost control of the situation.  He contented himself with glaring at Fiona and Dorian.  “I still cannot believe that you brought a Tevintor Magister into my castle.”

                “I didn’t,” she smirked.  “He is only an altus.  What I am unable to believe is that I have been in Redcliffe less than a day and someone has already tried to kill me.”

                “After Rose saved this town twice, then her Inquisitorialness saved it, too, it seems kind of rude to try and kill a member of the Inquisition on their first day here,” Varric pointed out.

                “These are the same people who apparently killed my son,” Isolde ran a loving hand over Connor’s head.  “Their manners are barbaric indeed.  I want to help you catch them.”

                “What do you remember from the day you lost him?” Dorian prompted.

                “The Wardens, Caitlyn and Alistair that is, had brought Irving to Redcliffe to free Connor from the desire demon who had possessed him,” Isolde related the story.   “They sent the dark haired witch, Morrigan into the Fade to fight the demon.  Everything seemed fine, but after they left one of the mages that Irving brought came down from the room.  He told us that the ritual hadn’t truly worked and Connor was possessed.  He had had to “put him down”.

                Caitlyn and Fiona exchanged a glance.  Fiona leaned closer to Isolde.  “What did this mage look like?”

                “He was tall, with blonde hair,” Isolde shrugged.

                “Could you describe him well enough for me to draw him?” Dorian asked. 

                “I remember the face of the man who told me my son was dead,” She confirmed.  “The man who killed him.  He was just a hired thug, though, wasn’t he?  Someone else is behind this.

                “We believe so,” Cailtyn confirmed.  She glanced over at Teagan who had been conspicuously silent.  “Do you have any thoughts?”

                “It is obviously a mage behind this,” he shrugged.

                “Right, because being locked in towers against their will and oppressed is what makes people power hungry,” Dorian took a long drink.  “No, mages are being used, but this big of an agenda comes from someone with more power.”

                “Perhaps it was Corypheus, then,” Teagan suggested.

                “Why kill Connor then, but not go after Selina when she was a child?” Varric countered.  “They would have been about the same age.”

                “You are free to investigate any part of the castle while you are here,” Isolde assured them.  “I will help and so will Teagan.”  She shot the man a pointed look.  “He will do it for Connor. “

                “We do not even know where to start,” Teagan protested.

                “I do,” Isolde announced.  “I have suspicions of who is behind this, but no way of proving it.  Yet.”

                “Who?”  Caitlyn needed to know.

                Isolde shook her head.  “I cannot say yet.   If I’m wrong, it would be an embarrassment.  If I am right, I can not accuse them without proof.  I will leave for Denerim in a few days.  It will be easier for me to investigate this matter from inside the court.”

                “Why ever did you decide to stay here instead of with your husband at court, in the first place?” Vivienne pried.  “It is still a bit too uncivilized, but it has to better than rustifying in the country.”

                Isolde’s eyes met Teagan’s, and then looked away.  “I am happier here than there.  This is my home.  Denerim is … not.  Going there will help with this matter, though.”  She smiled at her son.  “I plan to take plenty of trips to Skyhold, though.  I can report to the spymaster when I visit Connor.”

                “I want to go to Denerim, too,” Connor protested.  “I know that I have to stay with Vivienne and the other mages so they can keep teaching me and to make sure what I did before doesn’t happen again, but I want to see father.”

                “I’m sure he wants to see you, too,” she could not quite look at him.  “It is not safe now, though.  Someone just tried to kill Lady Cousland.  I’m afraid they would try to hurt you again.”  She was not going to let that happen.

                “Yes, one does tend to bear ill-will towards those who hurt their children,” Fiona glared at Isolde.  “It is amazing what they would do to protect or avenge them.”

                “Exactly so,” Isolde was more than a little disconcerted by the mage’s hostile look.

                The rest of the dinner was only filled with Varric retailing Teagan and his guests with a story about an Inquisition soldier name Jim who seemed to be having a run of bad luck.  It started when he went running out of Cullen’s office one day, swearing the Commander was going to kill him.  

                After the meal was finished, Isolde announced that she would be showing her guests to their rooms.  She first took Connor to his old room and promised to come back when she had everyone else settled in.  She then led Vivienne to a nearby room, stating that she was comfortable having a fellow Orlesian nearby, especially such a well-dressed one.  She missed the mutual eye roll between Caitlyn and Varric.

                Her next stop was Caitlyn’s room.  It was the same room that she had slept in the last time she was at Redcliffe Castle.  She hated to be an ungrateful guest, but the room just held too many memories.  She looked at her companions.  “Does one of you mind switching rooms with me?”

                “Why?” Dorian took in the comfortable surroundings.  “Are you afraid someone left a snake in the bed?”

                “I…” Caitlyn blew out a breath.  “The last time I slept with Alistair, it was in that bed.  He had come back after performing the dark ritual with Morrigan.  I saw at that very fireplace, waiting for his return.  He came in, looking dejected.  I thought he was feeling guilty about the ritual, even though I told him to do it.  Perhaps that is what really happened, the first time.  Now, thanks to our time travelling terrors, it was more likely because he was lying to me.”  What could the time traveler had said to him to make him lie to her, to hold her in that very bed, and make love to her while he knew that one of them would die the next day and lie to her about it.  “I don’t want to sleep in a bed where the man I once loved held me and lied to me.”

                “I do it all of the time,” Isolde gave an attempt at a nonchalant shrugged.  “That is why I do not like going to Denerim.”  At Caitlyn’s stunned look she admitted the rest.  “Eamon is having an affair.  I have my suspicions of whom with, but no proof.”

                “You need to start getting more proof for your suspicions” Varric observed.  “I have people who can help with that.  I’ll leave you my card.”

                “Ooh, do tell,” Dorian prompted.

                Isolde shook her head, but took the card Varric held out.  “They are highly placed and if I am wrong, the scandal could hurt the Guerrin name.  I cannot do that to my family until I am sure.  Let us just say that it is someone younger and pretty.”

                “Is that why you are now with Teagan?” Fiona accused.

                Isolde shot her a scathing look.  “You are one to talk.  Do you think I do not know about you and Maric?  Rowan was their sister, after all.”

                “Maric?”  Varric’s face lit with excitement.  “King Maric?  Fiona, what have you been holding out on us?  Dorian, you take the room, I want to talk to the enchantress.”

 

 

                “She didn’t tell me much,” Varric revealed the next day.  He and Caitlyn were watching Dorian and inspect the area outside the room where Morrigan had stayed the night before Caitlyn had marched her army to Denerim.  Fiona had promised to come and if she was needed, but she wanted to explore the castle.

                Caitlyn suspected that the mage and arlessa were merely trying to avoid each other.  “What did you get out of her?”

                “She did indeed have an affair with King Maric,” Varric confirmed.   “There is a lot more to that story than she is telling me.  As for the other, Isolde and Teagan seem to have an on again off again thing going on.  I have already confirmed it with the servants.”

                “No wonder Teagan looks so worn, he has aged horribly.  He used to be quite attractive,” Caitlyn revealed.

                “I’m finding the same trace elements that we did in the chantry,” Dorian interrupted.  He put some ash in a vial, and then looked around.  “Remind me not to hang around the arlessa.  If she did that to Teagan, then …” He shuddered at the half finished thought.  “I’m too pretty for such a fate.”

                Caitlyn laughed.  “Not even she could ruin looks as good as yours.” She caught a swift movement from the corner of her eye.  She dive rolled to the other side of the corridor as an arrow shot through the air.  The archer was a good marksman; her head had just been in that spot.  She turned to chase after him, but help had arrived.

                “Where were you planning to go?”  Fiona had cast as static cage around him.  “It seems that I arrived just in time.”

                “Now we can do this the hard way or the harder way,” Varric pointed Bianca at the would-be assassin.  “Why were you shooting at us?”

                “You will never get anything out of me,” the attempted killer snarled.

                “Do you know who we are?”  Caitlyn demanded.  “Who sent you?”

                “You are merely the so-called Hero of Fer…” the man’s sentence ended with a gurgle, an arrow sticking out of his heart.

                Fiona tried to cast a second cage around the new killer, but he dodged around a corner.  Caitlyn started running after him and was overcome as the room started to spin around her.  She put a hand on the wall for support.  When the room righted itself Varric and Dorian were walking towards her from her front.  She could have sworn they had been behind her.

                “She got away,” Varric grumbled.  “This is the second assassination attempt in two days.  Talk about making us feel unwelcome.”

                “Are you all right?” Dorian put a hand on her shoulder.

                “I just became really dizzy,” Caitlyn admitted.

                “I’m going to go find a healer,” Fiona walked away.  “One of you might want to tell Arl Teagan what just happened.”

                “You talk to him, Sparkles,” Varric still held Bianca in his hands, scanning for any new assassins.  “I’ll stay with Caitlyn and the body.”

                Caitlyn studies the body.  The archer was in full armor.  It was that of a royal soldier.  “Who came up with the new royal armor design?” She asked Varric.  “The markings on the helmet almost look like a ribbon, as if they are a gift.  The whole design is just … bad.  Obviously they are not using Wade.”

                “So it is very likely whoever is behind this is Ferelden.  This isn’t close enough to Denerim for our chief assassins to merely be hiring local help,” Varric observed.

                Fiona soon returned with a healer.  She was a fragile looking, blonde elf, but she carried herself as if she meant business.  She glanced at the dead archer.  “I’m not a necromancer; there is nothing I can do for him.”

                “We have a necromancer with us,” Varric revealed.  “It is Rose here who needs help.”

                The healer studied Caitlyn.  “I’ve seen you before, your name isn’t Rose.”

                “No,” Caitlyn laughed as the healer led her to a nearby room and ordered her to lie on the bed.  “It is a nickname Varric bestowed on me.  I am Caitlyn Cousland.”

                “What happened with the man I was obviously too late to help?” the healer prompted as she examined Caitlyn.  She closed her eyes, as she used her magic to examine Caitlyn more thoroughly.

                Caitlyn explained about the recent attempts on her life, as the healer continued her work.  “Then when I went to chase after him, I became dizzy.”

                “Well, of course you did,” the healer huffed.  “I am not in a position to criticize those who are trying to help in these dark times, but while its fine to risk your own life I must object to you risking that of your baby.”

                “Baby?”  Caitlyn blinked.  “What are you talking about?”

                “What is going on in here?” Teagan demanded as he came in with Dorian.  The others completely ignored him.

                “You are pregnant,” the healer clarified.  “You must know.  You are quite far along.  I would say into your fourth or fifth month.  You should begin showing soon.”

                “Well, this calls for a celebration,” Dorian declared.

                “I can’t be pregnant,” Caitlyn insisted.  “I haven’t done anything to get pregnant.”

                “You just said last night that you had had sex with Alistair in this very castle,” Dorian pointed out.

                “Yes,” Caitlyn admitted.  “But that was more than ten years ago.”

                “Those ten years were spent in some magic stasis in the Fade,” Dorian reminded her.  “Which you were rescued from about four and a half months ago.  I would say that you were in this condition when you went in.”

                “I have been told that two Grey Wardens can not have children,” she protested.  “The taint…” She didn’t have the taint anymore.  Not to mention that she had not had her female courses since before she fought the arch demon and ended up in the Fade.  She had just figured it was due to the trauma of being mostly dead for a decade.

                “The taint is gone,” Fiona reminded her gently.  She looked to the healer.  “Did you sense any taint in the baby?”

                “Nothing,” The healer shook her head.  “The baby seems fine.  I would say whatever healed you, healed it as well.”

                “How?”  Caitlyn placed a gentle and on her stomach.  She was pregnant?  She was already considered a miracle, but this was more of one.

                “I have some theories, but I would like to discuss them privately at Skyhold,” Fiona stroked a gentle hand down her head, and then helped her out of the bed.

                “Congratulations!” Varric grinned.  “You are having the longest pregnancy in Thedas history.”

                Caitlyn laughed while Teagan was growing upset about being ignored.  “Why is there a dead body in my castle and what is all this talk about assassins and babies?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and critiques are always welcome.


	14. Denerim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alistair has a birthday and Anora takes a tumble down the stairs.

                Alistair did not know why he had agreed to yet another big production for his birthday.  Things were in an upheaval in Denerim, in all of Ferelden, and he did not know why he was wasting his time on public frivolity when he should be helping fight against Corypheus, and the Venatori, and the Red Templars.  He was wondering if he was forgetting anyone.

                The nasty Venatori had recently attempted to assassinate him.  The Inquisition had helped look into rumors that they were in the city and had found a group among the kitchen staff.  Josephine had come personally to deliver the report and the Inquisition’s ambassador was still there.  She kept looking as if she wanted to tell him something else, but would not.

                Josephine had arrived just behind Isolde, Eamon’s wife.  He had never gotten along with Isolde, she had made his childhood miserable after she married Eamon, but for some reason that he did not trust, she was suddenly warm and thoughtful towards him.  Some of the others at the castle could not say the same, though.  He wondered what Anora had done to the woman to be on the receiving end of Isolde’s ire.

                Presently, Alistair lounged in his throne.  Eamon stood by his left shoulder as his ‘guests’ brought forth gift after gift.   He knew that Anora planned to make an entrance later with his gift from her.  He hoped it was better than last year’s present.  She had given him a genealogy of the Theiren bloodline.  It was as if she did not realize that he was still resentful of his father’s neglect. 

                “You have two gifts from Orlais,” the short, portly Orlesian ambassador with the giant mustache announced.  One is from Emperor Gaspard.”  He produced a small carved onyx statue in the shape of a Griffin.

                Alistair was genuinely delighted.  “Thank you,” it was the best gift he had received in years.  “I mean… I really like it.”  He held the statue, examining it.

                “Well,” the ambassador coughed.  “He is presently courting a mutual acquaintance of yours.       She suggested having it made for this occasion.”

                “A mutual acquaintance?”  Alistair did not know many Orlesians, much less one who would catch Gaspard’s attention. “Who?”

                “Gaspard would like to keep their courtship private until he has announced the engagement to the Council of Heralds.  He is working to ensure their approval at this time,” the ambassador explained.  “His second present is explained in this letter.”  He handed Alistair a piece of paper.

                Eamon attempted to read over his shoulder as Alistair began to read.  The ambassador shot Eamon a condescending look.  “It is for his majesties eyes only.”

                Alistair looked back at Eamon.  “Why don’t you go check on Anora?  Find out what is keeping her.”

                “She wants to make an entrance,” Eamon muttered.  His mistress had been giving him the cold shoulder ever since his wife arrived in town.  She had even suggested last night, in the short few minutes he had gotten her alone, that she was going to suggest to Alistair that they try for an heir again.  It wasn’t like he had invited his wife to Denerim.  She had shown up on her own and was spending most of her time talking to their servants and making nice with the other noblewomen.  She had never made nice with the other noblewomen before.  Perhaps she did mean to stay this time.  He sighed, that was all he needed; a cold shouldered paramour and a bride who was insisting on staying around, but was unenthusiastic about his attentions.  Isolde had never been as cold in his bed as she was now. 

                Alistair watched Eamon stalk off as he read the letter from Gaspard:

                _Greetings your majesty,_

_This second gift that I give to you I ask you to keep secret, even from your advisors.  Trust me on this.  A mutual acquaintance of ours was recently attacked while in Redcliffe.  There were two attempts on her life._ Which mutual acquaintance was Gaspard talking about?  Gaspard would know Leliana through the Inquisition.  He must mean her.  He would ask Isolde, she had only recently arrived from Redcliffe.  Perhaps she would know.  _I have also heard about the attempt on your own life.  You have Venatori.  I do not think they are the only human vermin that you have crawling around your castle._

_While Orlais and Ferelden often do not get along, I assure you that I would rather deal with you than Anora.  It is no secret that her father bear great enmity towards my people and Anora is his daughter in every sense of the word.  At this point, your only heir is the son of the apostate called Morrigan._   WHAT?   Alistair didn’t go through with the ritual, how had Morrigan had his son anyway?  He had heard rumors that she was now with the Inquisition.  He was going to have to have a talk with Josephine before he left.  _So for your own protection, I give to you Chatbleu, one of my most trusted and astute anti-espionage agents.  He is presently standing_ to _your left on the catwalk.  He is standing between a tall, pudgy man and a short, thin woman with bad teeth.  Do not question how he managed to pull this off; just know that he is that good.  He will meet with you tonight at precisely 9:32 in the royal gardens.  Do not bring your advisors with you, for all are suspect.  He will go over his safety protocols with you and will report only to you._

_Happy birthday._

_Gaspard DeChalons_

                “Um,” Did his rival countries leader really give him his own secret agent for his birthday?  That was just… cool.  “Tell him thank you for me.”

                The ambassador nodded and stepped away, only to be replaced by Josephine Montilyet.  “The Inquisition also wishes your majesty a happy birthday and presents you with presents.  The first is from the Inquisitor and Commander Cullen.  Who should not be giving presents together yet, but did anyway.”  She presented the first present.  It was a beautiful longsword.  The blade was made from stormheart.  The blade was from Silverite and Highever weave.  “Inquisitor Trevelyan crafted it herself.”

                “It’s lovely.  Thank you,” Alistair withdrew his own sword from its scabbard and replaced it with the new one.”

                “She named it Fate, your majesty and hopes that it will guide you to yours,” she then produced another present.  This was a tray of cheese and a small box.  “This is from Lady Cousland.  The cheeses are a variety from around Thedas.”  Of all the things a teryn’s sister could have acquired to give a king for his birthday, why would she give him cheese.  Josephine hoped that what was ever in the box made up for the slight.

                Alistair grinned and took a bite of one of the cheese cubes.  “She remembered my slight obsession with cheese.”  It was more than an obsession, he admitted to himself.  He picked another cube as he opened the box.  Nestled in it was a white stone with gold runes.  He also loved rune stones.  He ran his finger over the rune as he studied the gifts.  He had not seen her since her return from the dead, preferring to keep his distance from that which he could not have, yet she had not only remembered his birthday, she had sent the most thoughtful gifts he had received.  Eamon had given him a new shield, one that was purchased from a local shop that was paying Eamon to ensure the exchequer looked the other way when they didn’t pay taxes.  Anora had given him a bolt of cloth in the same dull brown color he now wore.  His nobles sent gems, yet she still remembered what things he liked no matter how simple.  He needed to talk to her, but was afraid of what would be said now.  It had been more than five months since her return from the dead and he had remained silent.  How could he talk to her now and not expect reprising words and rejections?  Yet she had sent these thoughtful gifts.  What did it mean?  He wished there was someone he could talk to about it, yet Eamon and Anora had made their positions clear and Leliana had become quite formal with him since his last letter to her.  “Tell her thank you,” he slipped the rune stone into his pocket. 

                Josephine stepped back and Bann Loring stepped forward bearing a jeweled ring.  As he knelt, a cry was heard over the partying nobles.  It was Anora.  Alistair ran towards the sound, followed by half of his court and guests.  He watched as Anora tumbled down the bottom few stairs leading from the family quarters.  Her long white dress was twisted around her legs and her diamond necklace lay broken nearby.  Eamon had beaten everyone else to her side and had her head on his lap. 

                “Are you all right?”  He studied her.

                “I’m fine,” she pushed him away.  “Someone tried to kill me!”

                Alistair looked up the stairs.  “Someone pushed you?”

                “I didn’t fall on my own!” Her voice was a high pitched shrill.

                Alistair spotted the culprit.  He walked halfway up the stairs and picked up a toy horse and knight.  “Someone, likely a child, left their toys on the stairs.  I’m sure it was an accident.”

                “See,” Isolde looked at Anora from over her husband’s shoulders.  “It was just and accident.”

                Eamon took the toys, examining them.  They looked familiar.  He swore he had seen them before, but couldn’t be sure.  He glanced, suspiciously, at his wife, but she had an innocent expression on her face.

                Anora pushed him away and stood up, then immediately collapsed back down on the stairs, hard.   “My ankle is broken.  I want the child who left this on the stairs found and flogged.”

                “No one will do any such thing,” Alistair’s voice was cold.  How dare she threaten a child?  “It was an accident.” He turned to two soldiers.  “Take the queen to her rooms, I will send a healer.”  He then turned to Josephine. “Ambassador Montilyet, I need to speak with you privately.”

                “I assure you that we had nothing to do with Anora’s accident,” she was nervous.

                “Unless you still play with dolls, I doubt strongly that you did,” he assured her.  “I wanted to ask about one the Inquisitor’s other advisors.  Does Morrigan have a son?”

                Josephine followed him into an alcove where she told him about Kieren and how he had been found in Caitlyn’s arms when they rescued the Hero of Ferelden.


	15. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their is a party.

Leliana’s planned surprise reunion was not quite a surprise, nor did she get as many veterans of the Fifth Blight as she would like, but there was no denying that it had turned into a large, enjoyable party.  The only two at her party who were not members of the Inquisition were an overly suave elven assassin and dwarven woman, although Zevran had pointed out several times that he had been on a mission that helped the Inquisition.  She had commandeered the Herald’s rest for the occasion and the bar tender was happily serving the large group.

                Caitlyn had left her long, curly, copper locks down for the evening, a small gold circlet was all that held it back.  Her dress was ivory with a dark green tulle overlay.  Its empire style waist hid her now visible signs of pregnancy.  Although one could tell if they looked from the way the tulle overdress split in the front to reveal the ivory of the underdress.  The long sleeves billowed to give it an even softer look.  If anyone who did not know her saw her this way, they would be hard pressed to believe that she was a formidable rogue who had brought down hundreds of foes, including an arch demon.  She sat across from Cassandra, who was the only person at the gathering who had not dressed for the occasion, Blackwall, Varric, and a female dwarf.  The dwarf was regaling them with the tale of how she had gone to Tevintor and found mages who helped her to go from being trapped as a golem to returning to her original form.  She was still adjusting to being ‘squishy’, as she called it and from not being able to kill pigeons as she once enjoyed.

                In one corner, Iron Bull sat in his regular chair.  Dorian was snuggled up with him, practically on his lap.  They were surrounded by the chargers, Cole, and Sera, who had actually found a shirt without any stains on it for the occasion.

                Cullen had shocked everyone by appearing without armor on.  He was dressed in a loose cream tunic with brown lacings and black pants.  He sat at a corner table, with Selina by his side.  The Inquisitor wore a royal blue and gold brocade bodice and skirt over a light gold underdress.  She had piled her long reddish-gold hair on top of her head and secured it with gold combs.  The couple had hoped to catch several moments to themselves, but Zevran had insisted on sitting with them.  He watched Vivienne, Morrigan, and Solas who sat at the bar, arguing about whether the evidence of the ancient elven gods found at the Temple of Mythal meant the gods actually existed or if they were merely demons.  He then turned his attention to Leliana and Josephine who were leaning against a far wall, observing their triumph.

                He turned back to the couple in front of him.  “So Inquisitor,” he leered at her “Have I told you that I have a taste for things that are both beautiful and dangerous.”

                He missed the hostile glare that Cullen shot at him.  “Um…” she was taken aback.  Was he trying to flirt with her?  “No.  You were an Antivan Crow, though, were you not?  Doesn’t that mean you were raised among Anitva’s beautiful architecture and leather workings?  So you would have been taught to appreciate both from a young age.”

                “Oh, I do,” he leaned closer, ogling her.  “Would it offend you if I say that I find you both beautiful and dangerous?  We could go somewhere to discuss how dangerous we could be together.”

                He really was flirting with her.  Worse, he was doing it in front of Cullen.  Did he have a death wish?  While they did not advertise their relationship, she thought everyone knew about them.  The soldiers gossiped enough about it.  Cullen stood up, put his hands down on the table, and glowered at the elven assassin.  “I suggest you back off before I show you how dangerous I can be.”

                Selina had to admit that she really loved when Cullen became aggressive and she might be thanking the assassin later for riling him up a bit, but she thought it best to defuse the situation before her commander made the elf a eunuch.  “Dorian!”  She called across the room.

                “Yes, my fashionable flower?”  He leaned towards her area of the room.

                “This ex-crow needs lessons in flirting.  I am going to send him over to you to learn how to do it right,” she turned back towards Zevran who was unsure if he was more afraid of Cullen at the moment or more insulted that she thought he needed help flirting.  He was an expert.  “I suggest you go over there, before Cullen makes you wish he killed you.  Don’t fall in love though; The Iron Bull can get a bit jealous.”

                Zevran looked at the angry ex-Templar to the Tevintor Magister who was snuggled up to a Qunari.  “I think I’ll just go see how Caitlyn is doing.”

                 Selina put a hand on Cullen’s arm as Zevran left.  “Relax, my love, I’ve had worse.”

                He looked down at her then pulled her up into his embrace and kissed her soundly in front of their gathered friends and associates.  The kiss was deep and exciting.  She had to cling to him for several moments after he pulled back.  She would definitely have to thank the assassin later, nah he didn’t need a confidence boost. 

Zevran sat between Varric and the female dwarf, Shale.  Varric laughed at him.  “You put your foot into it, didn’t you?”

“Who knew the Inquisitor’s commander had already laid claim to her,” he looked over at the couple.  It was too bad; he would have also liked to make a move on the commander.   “I flirted with Caitlyn during the Fifth Blight and Alistair never became so aggressively territorial.”

“He became irrationally jealous,” Caitlyn revealed.  “He would question me about my intents, though, instead of confronting you.  There were several occasions when I had to reassure him that we were just friends.”  Perhaps she should have taken the fact that he never confronted Zevran as a sign as to how willing Alistair turned out to be to fight for their love.   She knew the thought was unfair, he had moved on when she was dead, but the fact that she had not even seen him as a sign that he hadn’t been the type that would ever have fought for her no matter what obstacle was placed in their way.  She envied Selina and Cullen’s relationship, those two had already defied gossip and expectations, not to mention overcoming the hate he once held against mages and her inherent dislike of Templars that she had developed as a mage trapped in a circle.

“Speaking of the ex-Templar Grey Warden turned king, where is Alistair?” Zevran looked around.

“He chose not to come,” Caitlyn said simply.  “What I would like to know is where Lupin is?”

“Lupin?”  Blackwall questioned.

“Her dog,” Shale explained.  “I’m not sure, the last thing I knew, Alistair had him.”

“Uh…” Zevran was trying to recall what he had her of her mabari’s fate when Morrigan hissed in his ear to come talk with her a second.  He looked back at the apostate mage, and finally noticed the baby in her arms.  When had she had a baby?  “I think I should be going.”  Morrigan looked like she was going to kill him.

“I hope she turns him into a toad,” Shale commented as he walked away.  “That would be interesting to watch.”

“I’m sure she won’t.  She is probably warning him against trying to pick up anyone here,” she guessed.  “Although…” She broke off when the tavern door opened and a sizeable group walked in.  They were obviously Orlesian, most wore masks and finery of their own.  In the middle was Emperor Gaspard.

“Your eminence,” Josephine hurried to him.  “What has brought you to our humble gathering?”

“I wanted to request the Inquisition’s help to ensure that Ferelden has taken care of its little assassin problems before I approach them again for peace talks,” he explained.  “I would send a message to King Alistair myself, but I do not trust his advisors and thus any message that gets out would be suspect.  Plus,” he smiled over at Caitlyn. “I missed my favorite Ferelden and could not stay away from her a moment longer.”

“Ahh,” Josephine found Gaspard’s courtship of the Hero of Ferelden to be so romantic.  “Of course.”

“I was going to greet the Inquisitor first,” he looked around.  “But she does not appear to be here.”

“She was just here a few minutes ago,” sure enough, Selina and Cullen had disappeared after the scene with Zevran.  “I’m sure you can speak with her later.”

“I shall,” he walked slowly to Caitlyn, who was watching his approach.  She looked a little apprehensive.  He wondered what was wrong.  Talking off is mask, he bent down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.  “Is everything all right, my dear?”

She stood up, a hand resting on her stomach.  “Can we speak privately?”  She bit her bottom lip.

“What’s wrong?”  He laid a gentle hand on her cheek.  “Is there anything that I can do to help?”

She shook her head and gripped his hand, leading him up to the second floor of the tavern.  The second floor was not as empty as she had thought; she could hear low moans coming from Sera’s room.  “I thought Sera was still downstairs.”

“She is,” he confirmed.  He led her up more stairs.  They stepped up to the loft, and then took a far door out.  They were in a room that was now being used for storage.

Caitlyn kept her grip on his hand as she sat down on a crate and looked up at him, then looked down at her lap, and then back up.  “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“Tell me what?”  Had she cheated on him?  He knew that Arl Teagan had once had feelings for her and she had recently visited Redcliffe, had he acted on them?  He would invade Redcliffe and slaughter the Arl personally if he had.

“I’m …” she drew in another breath.  “I’m pregnant.”  She announced.

“Who is the father?”  His face was a dark cloud.  Who had touched the woman he intended to make his?

“Alistair,” she looked up into his eyes.  “I… I have been pregnant since before the battle against the arch demon, I was pregnant when I went into the Fade.  I am having Thedas’ longest pregnancy as Varric likes to point out.”

“Alistair,” he repeated.  She was having the king of Ferelden’s baby.  She had conceived while engaged to the other ruler.  The implications quickly raced through his mind.  The last thought was finally that he would not be swooping down on the lands of any Arls or Banns.  “Does he know?”

“No,” she admitted.  She had no idea how to tell him this.  He would not even come see her, how was she to tell him that she was having his baby?  From Josephine’s report from her visit to Denerim, he had been unhappy to learn in a letter and from gossip about Kieren.  He still hadn’t come to see his son, either.  Her baby didn’t need the same cold shoulder from its father.  “I’m not sure when, or even if, I will.”

Gaspard pulled her up into his arms and held her close.  “I will take care of both of you.  You do not need him,” although he would not hesitate to use his future step-child against his opponent.  Raising the heir to Ferelden had so many implications.  He knew some of the Council might try to object to a union with Caitlyn on the basis of her having had a child with another man, but he could easily get around that.  He would need to visit them each individually once he had obtained Caitlyn’s agreement to an impending marriage contract.

“I don’t need you or anyone to take care of us,” Caitlyn pulled away a little.

Maker’s breath, but he did admire her spirit and determination.  He had no doubt that she would be fine on her own, but that wasn’t what he wanted.  “I want to take care of you.”  He kissed her again, pulling her even closer.  He was shocked to realize how true that statement was.  As much as he was willing to scheme to strengthen his throne, he cared what happened to her.  Perhaps more than cared.

When she pulled back, she smiled sweetly at him.  “Does this mean that you will not be ending our courtship?”

His answer was another kiss.  This one was deeper and questing  He tangled one of his hands in her long curls, as his other gripped the back of her waist, pulling her even closer to him.  When the caress became even more probing, asking to become more, he felt her hesitate.  She slowly pulled her mouth from his.  She was not quite ready to commit yet.  “Perhaps we should get back to the others,” she took in a deep breath.

“Not yet,” he placed another, soft, kiss on her mouth then produced the present he had brought for her.  It was a clear crystal, yet when held up one could make out patterns in the inside.  As the crystal turned the patterns seemed to change and weave together.  It also reflected different colors of light, even though they were in a room with only a small window.  “Some of my scholars found it when they were helping to investigate an ancient Tevintor laboratory.  They are unsure if it does anything, but it was so beautiful and mysterious, that I automatically thought of you when they presented it to me.”

Caitlyn took the crystal and examined it.  Some aspects of it reminded her of a communication crystal, but that was not what this was.  “Thank you,” she leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.  “I appreciate it.”  She leaned in again; this kiss was longer and firmer. 

“We should go back before I do something you might regret,” he warned.  Then taking her hand, he led her back into the tavern.

As they descended the stairs to the second floor, they spied Cullen and Selina sneaking out of Sera’s rooms.  Selina was trying to fix her hair.  “Did Sera have to break her only mirror?”

“Let me help,” Caitlyn rushed to her friend and began repining her hair.  “We’ll meet you two downstairs,” she addressed both Cullen and Gaspard.  “I think it best that both of you appear without us.  That is unless you want more gossip from your soldiers.” 

Cullen gave Selina a swift kiss, and then headed away with Gaspard, a cocky smile on her face.  Selina watched them go.  Why did she love that smile so much?  “Did you tell Gaspard about the baby?”

“I did,” Caitlyn fixed another pin.

“And?” Selina stood patiently as another pin was adjusted. 

“He took it surprisingly well.  I could marry him just for that.”

“Do you plan to marry him?” Selina glanced back at her as the last of her pins were adjusted.

“I don’t know,” Caitlyn admitted as they walked to the stairs.  “It would be a great move for the Couslands, but I don’t love him.”

“I am lucky to be the youngest in my family,” the Trevelyans were nobles, but Selina was lucky enough that her new position guaranteed that she could marry whomever she liked.  “Plus, my clout as a political pawn went out the window when I was sent to the Circle of Magi.”

“My parents had agreed to let me marry for love,” Caitlyn confided.  “That went out the window when the man I do love married someone else.”  She said quietly, not wanting to be overheard by any of the Orlesians.  “I don’t know if I want to risk my heart like that again.”

Selina surprised Caitlyn with a hug.  Cullen made her so happy that she dare not even contemplate the heartbreak that losing him would cause.   “I wish I knew what to tell you to do.  Just take it one day at a time.”

Caitlyn nodded, and then drew back as she watched Zevran approaching Iron Bull and Dorian.  She was surprised when Cole spoke from behind her.  “Warm, but confused.  Why would he ever think that she would fall for someone so obvious?  Why would he be jealous?  Doesn’t he realize she loves him?  She has told him how she felt, why does she need to remind him again?”  Cole’s confusing words brought up memories that Caitlyn didn’t want to dwell on.  Instead, she sought out Leliana to get her friend’s thoughts on Gaspard’s reaction to her news and to see what she might know about the present he had given her.

 


	16. Fade-Dreamscape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crystal causes shared dreams-NSFW

Caitlyn was exhausted.  She let herself into her rooms and fell on her bed.  The party had lasted late into the night.  She eventually talked to everyone there.  She was a little worried that Zevran had left with left with one of the Orlesian nobles that Gaspard had brought with him, after all the man had once been mugged by urchins.  She had always thought that he and Leliana would make a good pair.  Perhaps she should pursue that avenue of the thinking while he was here.  She needed to get some sleep first.

She might have just closed her eyes and fallen asleep fully dressed, but she realized that she was lying on the crystal that Gaspard had given her.  She sat up and opened up the drawer on the stand by her bed.  She placed the crystal by a long decorative wooden box.  She followed impulse and opened up the box, running a finger along one of the petals of the rose that lay within.  Could she really bring herself to agree to marry a man she did not love?   Would it be turning her back on all that she once hoped for or was it accepting her new reality and moving on with her life.  She closed the box back up and put it back in its place.  She removed her dress and carefully laid it at the bottom of her bed.  She was about to pull out a nightgown when she thought ‘to the Fade with it’ and lay back down.  She was soon asleep.

She dreamed almost immediately.  She found herself in a familiar looking camp.  As she scanned her surroundings, she realized that that she was back with her companions during the fifth Blight.  Shale was once again a golem and stood near the merchants who had travelled with them; she vaguely wondered what had happened to Bodahn and is son Sandal.  Leliana played on her lute and sang, while Zevran and Wynne listened to her.  The she saw her mabari dog, Lupin.  He barked happily as she approached.  She stopped to pet him.  “No one seems able to tell me what happened to you.”  He just barked again, and then ran over to Sten to look for a treat.

“Caitlyn?”  She turned as a familiar, much missed voice, called out to her.

Alistair stood nearby.  She dimly wondered why he was dressed in dark green leather pants and a heavy brocade green on green tunic.  Looking down, she realized that she was wearing the same dress that she had earlier although it no longer hid her baby bump.  Well, it was a dream; maybe she just wanted his clothes to echo her own.  She wondered if this Alistair could answer any of the questions she longed to ask him.  Of course not, she answered herself.  He was a reflection of her memories.  “I want to ask you something personal?”

“Well, we’re in camp, now is as good a time as any,” he answered.  She noticed that he looked around curiously, as if to assure himself that that was indeed where he was.

She opened her mouth to ask him all the thoughts that were on her mind, why had he married Anora, why he wouldn’t even see her, did he still love her, where was her dog?  Yet she found that she could not bring herself to waist this dream.  She missed him too badly and she even a mere shadow of himself was too tempting to give up.  She smiled up at him.  “Let’s go to sleep.”

                A bright smile spread across his face.  “Your wish is my command.”   He pulled her into his arms and fastened his mouth to hers.  She wrapped her arms around his neck molding her body even closer to his.  Without any armor on, they were soon melded together as their mouths feasted on each other.  He hoisted her up, tighter against him, lifting her feet from the ground.  She wound her legs around his waist, crossing her ankles behind her back.  His hand reached down to her bottom and hoisted her more firmly up and against him.  He broke their kiss to look at her for a minute.  He just looked, and then began raining kisses across her face as he carried her to their tent.

                Once in the tent, he knelt on their bed roll, not loosening his grip on her as he slowly lowered them both down.  His lips were then fused to hers again, his tongue plundering into her mouth, exploring as if it was not in there every day.

                When he finally broke away, she looked up at him unable to contain her bright smile.  By the Maker she missed this.  She placed a hand on his cheek, to just be able to touch him again even if it were just a dream. 

                He leaned back and quickly disposed of his boots, then her slippers.  “Why would you be wearing these?” He wondered, and then shook his head.

                She opened her mouth to answer, then clamped it closed it again as he placed a gentle kiss on the bottoms of both feet.  The kisses move up her legs as he slowly moved the hems of her dress and under dress out of his way.  When he reached the junction of her thighs, he quickly disposed of her smalls and placed one kiss at her center and continued up.  He spent several minutes circling little pecks around her belly button.  “Alistair”, he finally managed.

                “Yes, my love?”  He smirked up at her. Then went back to his work.  When he reached her breast band, he swiftly removed both her dress and underdress, and then went back to work.  “Is there something you need?”  He placed soft, sucking kisses up her right breast until he reached the nipple and clamped his lips down on it, softly working it with his tongue and teeth.  He used his hand on the other nipple.

                She called out his name again, one hand gripping his head, holding him to her, while the other gripped bedclothes.   “You,” she finally answered.  “That is what I need.”

                He grinned and his kisses continued up until they reached her lips.  “And I need you.”

                She answered his grin and reached down to the hem of his tunic.  “Good,” she brought it swiftly over his head.  Then softly touched his chest, running her hands up and down it.  Her lips soon followed those hands.  She nestled her head under his chin as she held his naked chest again hers.  “How long has it been since I told you that I love you.”

                He kissed the top of her head.  “Too long,” he put a hand under her chin and lifted so he could once again claim her lips.  He kept the kiss going as he pushed her back down onto the bedroll.  He broke the kiss to quickly kick off his pants.  As he lowered back down to her, she hooked one of her legs around his hip, the other around his legs.  He held her gaze as he slipped into her, rocking gently setting a leisurely, loving pace as if cherishing every second he was in her.  She matched the pace as she continued to keep her eyes locked on his.  Maker did she miss this, not just the physical act, but the intimacy of being locked to him as he gently pleasured her.  True, she liked when he was rougher, too, but she feared a part of her would always want this back.

                She legs tightened on him, the one wrapped around his legs moving up so she could move her heel against his bottom to urge him on.  He quickened the pace a little moving more vigorously in her.  Sooner than she would like, she felt herself going higher until her orgasm gripped her and she called out to him, while blessing the maker.  Her body convulsed, urging him on until too soon he joined her, burying his head in her neck as his seed filled her.  She held the back of his head in place, afraid that he would leave.  That in the bazaar way dreams did, she would find herself without his embrace.

                “Maker, I have missed you,” he breathed.

                Wait… he missed her?  They were rarely apart during the Blight.  Had she gone on a mission without him?  She had when she had gone to Cadash Taig with Shale.  That was the only time she remembered leaving him at camp.  “Was I recently helping Shale remember who she is?”

                He moved away, shaking his head, but then snaked an arm around her so she lay against him as he moved to his back.  “No.  The last that I knew, you were in Skyhold.”

                “Skyhold?”  She quickly sat up and looked down at him.  “Alistair?  Where are you right now then?”

                He slung an arm across his eyes.  “I just messed this up and I was having such a nice dream.”

                “This is my dream,” she informed him.  Where was her dress, she spied his tunic and slung it on to look down at him.  “I am at Skyhold, I fell asleep and found myself here.”

                He too sat up, looking warily at her.  “I am in Denerim, sound asleep.”

                “Sweet Maker,” she leaned forward, resting her arms on her legs and covering her face with her hands.  How had this happened?  She had finally forced Alistair to face her and instead of asking any of the questions she had wanted to, she had jumped him.  Well it wasn’t too late.  “I do have some questions for you then and I want honest answers.”

                “All right,” he grabbed his pants and slung into them.  “Let’s do this like you did with the Hermit.  You ask a question, and then I’ll answer and ask a question.”

                “You do recall that I ended up killing that hermit,” she warned him.  He hadn’t been a harmless hermit.  He had been a crazed mage who attacked her.

                “I'm aware that you can hurt me if you wanted to,” he grumbled.

                “Not as much as you managed to hurt me,” she murmured.  “Even though you had sworn you never would.”

                “Caitlyn…” he reached out a hand to her.

                She shook her head and backed away.  She knew she should take this opportunity to tell him about their baby, but another baby whom he had not bothered to see suddenly became a more pressing matter.  “Why did you lie to me about the ritual with Morrigan?  Why didn’t you go through with it and why lie to me about it?”

                He thought back to that night.  “I was going to.  All that was on my mind was making sure that you lived through the battle with the arch demon.  I had my hand on the door to her room, when I was stopped by one of the mages from the Ferelden circle.  You remember that they had come to aid us in the battle.  He pointed out to me that what I was about to do was a betrayal of the woman that I loved.  He questioned how I could even contemplate laying with another woman.  He knew all of these things about me and talked to me for an hour about how he had once been in love with the most wonderful woman in Thedas.  They had been as happy as they could under the situation, but then he had slept with a Templar who said she would hurt the woman if he did not.  The woman whom he loved found out about it and would never forgive him.  He wished he had just run and let the Templars kill him for escaping for his death would be better than the look on her face when his love found out.”

                “What were their names?” She asked.

                “I never asked,” he now found it weird that the mage had not given any names.  “My turn, do I now have a son with Morrigan?”

                She nodded.  “His name is Kieren.  He is a beautiful baby.”

                A beautiful baby?  She had seen his son?  He was growing angry.  “Why did I have to hear about this through gossip?  I had to corner Josie and ask her.  Why didn’t you tell me?”

                “When?”  She shot back.  “You won’t even see me!   The only reason that we are even having this conversation at all is that somehow we have been sucked into the same dream.  You are claiming that you didn’t want to betray me, but you lied to me and then let me die.  _I_ was the one killed when the arch demon died. “   She would rather it be her who died than him, but right now she was too angry and to hurt to say that.

                “I had planned for it to be me,” he admitted.  “I knew I was faster than you and could run to the arch demon faster.  I had not counted on the fact that you would be right beside him.”  He could still see her dual swords flashing as she sliced at the exposed underside of the arch demons neck and belly.  “I still tried to run to you, but a soldier came out of nowhere and blocked me.  He was yelling about how Ferelden needed me.”  Ferelden needed him, but he needed her.  He squelched that thought.  It was too late for them.

                “Then you married Anora, why?”  She had to know.

                “I needed an heir and Eamon insisted that marriage to her would be the best means of cementing order in Ferelden,” he recalled.

                “Her father killed Duncan and encouraged Howe to try and destroy my entire family,” she reminded him.  “Yet you married that thrice cursed whore spawn, because it was what Eamon wanted?”

                “Don’t call her that,” he bristled.  “She is my wife.  Besides, Eamon is like a father to me and my advisor.  He had an answer for every protest I had.”

                “Yes,” she stood.  “She is your wife,” just saying those words still caused her pain.  She turned so he would not see the tears gathering in her eyes.  “Do you love her?  Are you happy?”

                He wanted to scream that it was her he loved, but that would only cause more confusion and heart ache.  “Why wouldn’t I be happy?  I am doing my duty to my country.  Until Corypheus showed up, my people were happy and prospering.”

                She had noted what he hadn’t said.  “So you won’t say you love her, but you are happy because you are doing your duty?”  He didn’t know what to say to that, but she wasn’t done.  “Perhaps you are right; perhaps love is not needed to have a happy marriage.  If a political marriage is what you truly wanted, then why should I not do the same?”

                “Caitlyn,” he didn’t know why panic was gripping him, but something about what she was saying unnerved him.  “What are you saying?”

                She looked back at him, a single tear trickling down her cheek.  “I was hesitating to commit to a political marriage, but you have made me see that it is the right choice.  After all, it was what you chose and it has made you happy, so happy that you won’t even come near me, because it would upset Anora and apparently all of Ferelden.  I at least like him, why wouldn’t I be happy?”

                Leliana must have shown her that letter.  Damnation.  Then what she said caught up with him and his panic raised more.  “He?  He who?”

                She shook her head.  “I’m sure you will find out soon enough.  I believe the next question is mine.  Where is my dog?”

                “Lupin?”  He thought back.  “Sten took him.  I had planned to keep him, after all he was yours.  Anora insisted that he be housed in the kennels with the other dogs instead of in the castle.  I was still trying to make her happy, so I agreed.  Sten found out.  He came in yelling at me that I had already let you die, and then betrayed you, and now I was spitting on your memory.   So I let him take him.”

                She had never liked Sten more than she did at this moment.  “You let _her_ throw my dog out to the kennels.  Lupin had never had to sleep in the kennels; he slept with me in my room since he was a puppy.  He was all I had left of my childhood.  Sten is right, you did spit on memory.”  She stormed out of the tent.   Betraying her was bad enough, but to betray her dog too just set her off. 

                “Caitlyn,” he chased after her.  He noticed that their companions were now staring at them.  He didn’t care; they were just part of a dream.  At least he hoped they were.  “I’m sorry.  I was grieving, I wasn't thinking strait.”

                “What about now?”  She demanded.

                “I don’t know what you mean?”  From the confused whine in his voice it was evident he didn’t. 

                “I’m waking up now,” she disappeared from the camp.

                She sat up in her bed and looked down.  She was wearing a man’s brocade tunic, green on green.  She placed a hand on her abdomen and felt slight movement, her baby bump was back.  Well, she now knew what the crystal did.  She opened the drawer and moved it away from the rose.  Then she buried it at the bottom of a clothes chest, hoping it could not do any damage there.

 

 

                Alistair bolted awake.  He wasn’t even surprise to realize that the only thing he wore was a pair of dark green leather pants.  There was a knocking on his door.  He walked over and opened it to find Anora standing in the door way wearing only a long white chemise.  Her blonde hair cascaded down her back.  He looked at it, thinking how dull it looked compared to Caitlyn’s vibrant copper curls.  “Did you get lost on the way to your room?”

                She ran a finger down his arm.  “I was just thinking about how we never truly gave our marriage a chance.  I would like to try again.”

                “Did your boyfriend’s wife show up in town, so now you are lonely?”  From the look on her face when she drew back, he realized that the rumors were true.  He had thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to him, after the maker had returned her to him, for a farce.  It was too late now; she was going to marry someone else.  Someone she said she liked.

                “I need to go to the kennels, and then talk to Eamon,” he would be asleep by now.  He seemed to be trying to appease Isolde since she had shown up unexpectedly.  Isolde was in town.  He looked at Anora, finally connecting the dots.  He really was the idiot Morrigan accused him of being.  He wondered how long she had been with Eamon.  Was that why Eamon not only suddenly spared her life, but then did everything in his power to convince Alistair to marry her?  “Excuse me,” without another look, he went to visit the prize mabari he had been informed was expecting.


	17. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A step is taken in finding a cure for the Calling

Caitlyn’s schedule for the day had become rather full.  She had been informed at breakfast that Fiona wanted their little group to meet.  She had a theory about how to cure Grey Wardens.  First, however, Caitlyn wanted to talk to Gaspard.  Plus, she needed to see Morrigan in private. 

                She found Gaspard talking to the head of his guards up on the battlements.  He was giving him instructions for the day.  As she walked towards him, she had a flash of the shared dream from the night before; she was wrapped in Alistair’s arms, clinging to him.  She tried to squelch the memory, instead recalling his anger at her insults to Anora.  When the captain of the Orlesian guard, Phillipe saw her he smiled and bowed.  “My lady.”

                Gaspard looked back at her, smiling.  “To what do I owe this pleasure this morning?”  He gently gripped her shoulders and kissed both of her cheeks.  Then he pressed his lips against her, lingering there.  

                She returned his smile.  “I believe you have mentioned that you had plans to marry me and were just waiting for me to say yes before you wrote my brother and addressed the Council of Heralds.”

                “That is right.  I am still waiting for that yes.”

                “Write to Fergus,” she kissed his cheek.  “I am saying yes.”

                He pulled her tightly into his arms, fusing his lips to hers.  “This is going to be the most interesting reign in all of Orlesian history.”

 

 

                Caitlyn was whistling as she entered Skyhold’s gardens, searching for Morrigan.  True, she did not feel the same overwhelming joy that she had when she became engaged to Alistair, but she was happy.  She was making a good marriage and she would be content.  What more could one truly ask for?

Morrigan was in her usual spot near the gazebo, Kieran cradled in her arms.  “Yes, my friend?”

Caitlyn sat down beside Morrigan, peering into Kieran’s peaceful face.  “I have a request… well more of a favor for you.  I would like you to return to the court in Val Royeaux to be the court mage again.”

Morrigan shook her head.  “It was not merely Gaspard’s request that caused me to leave and join the Inquisition as one of the advisors.  It was time for me to go.”

“I need you there, though,” Caitlyn protested.  “I want you at court with me.”

“So you have agreed to marry Gaspard,” Morrigan surmised.  “And your first act as the Empress of Orlais would be to reinstall me as Court Mage.”

“Well, I sure wouldn’t want Vivienne to have it,” Caitlyn pointed out.   “I need a friend with me and I want Kieran there, too.  I want our children to know each other, to play together.”

“I know you are fond of Kieran, and returning would really chafe Leliana’s pious behind, but I doubt that Gaspard wants the son of an apostate playing with his child.  What if somethings rubs off on the future emperor or empress,” Morrigan pointed out.

She had thought Morrigan already knew.  “Gaspard is not this baby’s father,” Caitlyn laid a hand on her ever expanding womb.  I haven’t slept with anyone since I returned from the Fade.”  Not unless one counted the dream the night before, the shared dream.  That didn’t count, though, did it?

“Then the child ‘tis Alistair’s,”   She should have known.  “Does he know?”

“Gaspard or Alistair?” Caitlyn was a bit confused.  “Gaspard knows.  I do not believe Alistair is even aware that I am pregnant.  Don’t you see why I want our children to grow up together?  They have the same father, they are siblings.”

“The difference, though,” Morrigan pointed out, “is that Kieran is the result of a ritual, while your baby is the result of the sickening affection that you and that fool feel for each other.  “Tis a moot point anyway, you are not going to go through with this marriage to Gaspard.”

“What?”  Caitlyn backed up a bit from her friend.  “How can you say that?  Why wouldn’t I marry him?”

“You yourself have said that Alistair may be an idiot, but he is your idiot,” Morrigan reminded her.  “You love him too much to marry another.”

“He already married another,” Caitlyn stood up; she was beginning to lose her temper.  “Why would I not do the same?”

“Because you were pretty much dead at the time and he had no reason to think that you were going to return to him,” Morrigan’s voice was surprisingly gentle for her.  “You, on the other hand, know that he is alive and are not the type to give up a fight so easily.  Why don’t you go on to Fiona’s meeting?  I don’t think she knows who your baby’s father is, either.  Perhaps she should.”

“Why?”  Caitlyn had no idea why the enchantress would care about the identity of her baby’s father, yet she did as Morrigan advised and made her way to the library.  Trying to find out who was behind the time travelling terrors or finding a cure for the Grey Warden calling was better than contemplating Morrigan’s comments.

She found Fiona in her regular spot, an alcove in the library, reading.  She looked up at Caitlyn as she approached, Caitlyn had thought she moved quietly enough not to be heard, she was a rogue after all, and perhaps her added passenger was making her less graceful.  “Your early.” Her Orlesian accent seemed stronger than usual or perhaps Caitlyn was just sensitive to them.

“I have had quite the day already,” Caitlyn sat in a nearby chair.  “I just agreed to marry your emperor this morning.”

“Oh,” Fiona’s voice was noncommittal.  “I guess congratulations are in order.  Of course, most of us thought you would since you are pregnant with his child.  I know he gave you that crystal yesterday, have you figured out what it does?”

Why did everyone assume the baby was Gaspard’s?  “Gaspard isn’t the baby’s father.  I haven’t even slept with him.  As for the crystal, it seems to cause shared dreams if left by a treasured gift from the other person.  I don’t know if it has to be a gift or treasured, but it caused a shared dream.  The baby’s father and I had a happy reunion, followed by a fight once we realized what was going on.  I have moved it away from the rose Alistair gave me and hopefully we will not be yelling at each other again tonight.”

“Alistair is the baby’s father?”  Fiona’s eyes riveted to Caitlyn’s abdomen.  “Alistair Theirin.”

Caitlyn wished people would stop looking at her stomach.  “Yes, I was pregnant when I faced the arch demon.  It is definitely Alistair’s.”

Fiona leaned back.  “It has to be the Theirin blood.  That is what destroyed the taint in our bodies.  We must just figure out what is in it that fight’s the taint.”  She then realized what she had revealed and slumped forward, a hand over her eyes.

“Fiona?”  Caitlyn touched her shoulder.  “I think I need to know what you are talking about.”

Fiona looked down at her hands and sighed.  “Please promise that you will not tell him.”

“Tell who?”  Caitlyn pressed.

“Alistair,” Fiona’s voice was a whisper.  “When I lost the taint, permanently, the joining wouldn’t even work on me… when it happened; I was pregnant with King Maric’s baby.  I gave the baby to Duncan, who took it to Maric’s in-laws.”

“You’re Alistair’s mother,” Caitlyn was stunned.  “I thought his mother was some maid in Redcliffe castle.”

Fiona laughed bitterly.  “It is more acceptable that a king be the child of a maid than an elven mage, so Eamon lied to him.  He wanted him to be king someday.”

“That means that Eamon sent Alistair to become a Templar knowing he was, in fact, the son of a mage,” Caitlyn was really coming to dislike that man.   “He hated it so much that he felt Duncan had rescued him when he conscripted Alistair.”

“I know,” Fiona admitted.  “I sent Duncan there.  I may not be able to be with my son, but I could not allow him to become a mage hunter.”

“How do we figure out what is in their blood without resorting to blood magic,” Caitlyn wondered.  “And how do we get a sample of their blood.”

“I have some ideas, which I will discuss with the others.  I guess this means that I have to tell them the secret as well,” she really did not want to.  She was worried that the Tevintor mages could not be trusted.  Morrigan would find the entire thing amusing, but would keep her secret.

“You know what this means,” Caitlyn suddenly smiled.  “My baby finally had a grandparent.  Even if we cannot tell the rest of the world that that is truly who you are, I want you to be there for it, please.”

Fiona leaned in and touched Caitlyn’s abdomen.  “How could I refuse such a request?  I regret that I could not be there for its father, but I am no longer a scared mage on the run and will be there for it.”

When Alexius, Dorian, and Morrigan had joined them, Fiona informed them that there had been progress made in their search for a cure for the Grey Wardens’ Calling.  “It is something in the Theirin bloodline.  We need to get a sample of their blood.”

“You are not taking any of Kieran’s blood,” Morrigan held the baby closer.

“It is not coming from my baby, either,” Caitlyn agreed.  “We will need to either get it from Alistair or find out if Cailan had any royal bastards of his own.”

“Yours either?” Alexius was perplexed.

“Caitlyn is pregnant with King Alistair’s baby,” Dorian explained.

“He knew?” Morrigan was not happy that the Tevintor Magister knew the identity of her friend’s baby’s father when she hadn’t.

“I wasn’t keeping it secret,” Caitlyn shrugged.

“Then go ask him for a sample of his blood,” Alexius insisted.  Perhaps this cure would also help those infected by the Blight.  He had been unable to save his own son, but that did not mean others like Felix could not be saved.

“We aren’t exactly on speaking terms right now,” she revealed to him.  ‘I haven’t seen him face to face for ten years.”

“Perhaps I should go charm him out of a pint or two,” Dorian suggested.

“Believe me, you aren’t his type,” Morrigan countered.

“You under estimate my charms, my lady,” Dorian smirked.  “If you will not trust this handsome face to get it for you, then I suggest we put Leliana and Josephine on the case.  If Cailan had any children, Leliana would know.  Josephine may be able to charm Alistair.”

“Once we find what is so special about their blood, we will need someone to experiment on,” Fiona added.

“Wait,” Dorian leaned towards Fiona.  "If it is Theirin blood that is the key, how did you become cured?”

“I _knew_ Maric,” she admitted.

“Not just knew him, you _knew_ him,’ Dorian laughed.  “Someone has a past.  Wait… then…”

“We need to find a Grey Warden to experiment on,” Caitlyn interrupted.  “I believe we have plenty of those here.  We’ll ask for a volunteer first.”

“I’m sure Blackwall would want to do it,” Doran would like to see his friend cured.

“He isn’t a Grey Warden,” Caitlyn declared.

“Of course he is,” Dorian gave her a quizzical look.  He motioned to a nearby page.  “Please go fetch Blackwall.  He is likely in the stables.”

“Even I know he is no Warden,” Morrigan announced.  I heard his idiotic comment about being in Ferelden during the Fifth Blight.  Not to mention that he does not even know the secret behind killing an arch demon.”

“There is a secret behind killing an arch demon?” Alexius was interested.

The page came back as Morrigan spilled Grey Warden secrets.  “Blackwall is gone,” he proclaimed.  “The Inquisitor has Lady Leliana looking into the matter.”

“What did I tell you,” Morrigan gave a bitter laugh.  “I will have Cullen get us a volunteer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments, opinions, grammatical suggestions, etc. are welcome.


	18. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is preparing to leave for awhile.

Selina lightly gripped Cullen’s hand as they watched Emperor Gaspard and his entourage leave.  The emperor pulled Caitlyn into his arm and kissed her before mounting his horse.  Then the Orlesian contingent left Skyhold.

“I cannot say that I am sorry to see them gone,” Cullen admitted.  “I just wish you were not going soon, too.”

“I know,” Selina turned towards him and laid her head on his shoulder.  “I need to go find out what is happening with Blackwall.  All we have is a notice for an execution of a man called Mornay in Val Royeaux.  Once I figure out what is happening with him, I will be heading to the Frostback Basin.  Scot Harding has reported that a professor from the University of Val Royeaux has found evidence that Inquisitor Ameridan’s resting place may be there?”

“The last Inquisitor?” Ameridan would have died over 800 years ago, right before the Second Blight.  Cullen was also intrigued at the thought of finding the missing inquisitor, but he was far less than thrilled about Selina going into such a dangerous area.  “There are a lot of Avaar in that area,” he warned.  “Not all of them are friendly.  I will send as many men in to help you secure the area as possible.”

                “Will you also be going then?”  She liked the idea of him going with her. 

                He kissed the top of her head.  “I wish I could.  I will come for inspections as often as possible, though.”

                “I will be taking most of my inner group with me as well,” she assured him.  “I have heard the wild life is also pretty rough there, so I will be cautious.”

                “Good,” he felt better knowing she would have help.

                “I have asked Caitlyn to wait to go to Denerim until we get back, but she insists on investigating the last time rift area that she knows of before she is too big to sit a horse.  That is a direct quote by the way,” she couldn’t hold back a snicker.  The Hero of Ferelden’s pregnancy was now definitely showing and she was lamenting that her baby was making it harder to fight, not that she was letting it hold her back.

                “Once you can, go meet her in Ferelden,” Cullen would rather Selina hurry back to Skyhold, to him, but the assassination attempt on Caitlyn had not yet been resolved and he wouldn’t be surprised if the assassins tried for her again.  Ferelden’s capital city would be a prime spot for an attack.

                Selina looked up at him.  “When is the last time you were in your home country?  You could meet us there.”

                “I wish I could, but it took skillful maneuvering to arrange our last trip there,” he had taken her to see where he grew up.

                She placed a gentle kiss on his lips.  She was anxious to take out Corypheus just so she could get more alone time with Cullen.  “I will miss you.  Skyhold should at least be quieter.  Caitlyn and Fiona will be heading to Highever first.  Her brother’s wife had a baby.   Could you write him and convince him to send some of his men to Denerim with her?  Every time I suggest she takes ours, she questions whether the keep is truly prepared for an attack from Corypheus if I were gone, too.”

                “I will,” he laid a hand on her cheek.  “Make sure you take care of my Inquisitor until you get back.”

                She smiled.  “Make sure her Commander’s in good health when she gets back.”

                “I…”  He pulled back as a messenger in Ferelden livery rode up to the gates.  “What is going on now?”  Was Ferelden in trouble?

                “I am looking for Lady Cousland!”  The messenger called.

                Caitlyn had not moved far from the gates and heard the messenger.  “I am right here.”

                The messenger looked disconcertedly at her for a minute.  “It’s you!  You’re her… the hero.”

                “I am Lady Cousland,” she corrected.

                “Of course, sorry, my lady.  My mother is never going to believe I met you! I mean…”  He quickly collected himself and pulled something out of his saddle bag.  It was a mabari puppy.  He carried it to Caitlyn and handed it to her.  “This is for you.  There is also a message… it’s from the king, can you believe it?  Anyway… here it is ‘ _I have sent message to Par Valon, but I doubt that even if the message reaches Sten that he will send Lupin back.  I regret more than you know that I did not keep him by my_ _side_ ’.  He means the mabari, my lady, not the Quanari.  ‘ _I have named him Hawke, as I have heard that Garret Hawke and the Inquisitors were the ones who freed you from the Fade and brought you back to Thedas.  I know that he will not make up for all I have done to wrong you since I lost you that horrible day on the rooftop of Fort Drakon, but I hope it is a step in the right direction_ ,” the messenger handed her the note, which the dog immediately tried to chew.  Caitlyn gently moved the parchment away from the puppy’s teeth and cuddled him close, as she walked into the interior of Skyhold.

                “He gave her a mabari puppy,” Cullen was grinned down at Selina, his excitement showing.

                What was it with Fereldens and dogs?  “I’m sure she will let you take care of it while she is gone.”

                “I’ll ask her,” he murmured as he slipped his hand to Selina’s lower back, guiding her back towards his office.  He had to give his Inquisitor a proper sending off before she left.


	19. Val Royeaux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaspard has a conversation with his uncle.

Gaspard entered the lush estate of Germain DeChalons.  He had ridden there after leaving Skyhold.  He had decided to hold off peace talks with Ferelden until he was ready to address the Council of Heralds about his impending marriage.  He wanted the nobles backing and planned to have it when he stood before them and presented his intended bride.  For that, he needed to address the Council one by one. 

                “What brings you here?” Germain greeted him.  He refused to call the nephew whom he loved, but who had threated his life several times by his title.

                “I plan to present my intended bride to the Council of Heralds in less than six months,” Gaspard announced.  “I do not plan to have much resistance when I do so.  I need your help with the matter.”

                Germain walked into his study, Gaspard followed.  “Who is the lucky lady?”

                “Caitlyn Cousland,” Gaspard announced.  “She is the sister of the Teryn of Highever.”

                “A Ferelden?”  Germain considered.  She might be a Ferelden, but she was highly placed and a skilled warrior.  He knew that as a man who considered the Chevalier code of honor higher than the game.  He also knew that Gaspard’s first wife, Calienne, had been a force to be reckoned with.  She had killed Celene’s mother when Celene had outmaneuvered Gaspard for Orlais’ throne.  Celene’s father, Reynaud, had then killed Calienne in retaliation.  Calienne managed to take Reynaud to the grave with her.  Gaspard had definitely been attracted to the weak and simpering ladies of the court. 

                “The daughter of Bryce Cousland, may he rest at the Maker’s side,” Gaspard confirmed.  “Her reputation is well earned, all of it.  If I put off peace talks with Ferelden until I present her, then that could work to convince the Council that marrying the only marriageable member of Ferelden’s highest ranking noble family is in Orlais’ best interest.”

                “It could work,” Germain had other concerns, though.  As he reached his study, he sat on a plush settee and motioned for Gaspard to sit across from him.  “There is another problem, though.  It was after Celene stole your throne, so I am unsure if you remember.  Caitlyn Cousland became formally engaged in front of the Ferelden Bannorn during a Landsmeet ten years ago.  Such a formal engagement before the Bannorn is a binding contract, she could not marry elsewhere.  If she does marry you, her fiancée could sue for breach of that contract.  The suit could result in anything from a fine to your marriage being invalidated.  It would be up to either the chantry or bannorn.”

                “It would be a worry,” one that Gaspard would not have let it get in his way, anyway; not now that he had developed feelings for Caitlyn.  “If not for the little fact that her fiancée has already wed someone else.  He broke the contract already.  She could sue him if she thought about it.  However, she is less concerned about the legality of the matter as the way he viciously stomped on her heart.”  He did not realize that he had developed hostile feelings for King Alistair over Caitlyn’s poor broken heart, one he still vowed to repair.  “They have not even seen each other since she returned from the dead.”

                “Good,” Germain steepled his fingers together.  “I believe I know which Heralds to approach first.”

                “There is a small additional matter that they may learn about soon that we will have to address with them,” Gaspard admitted.  He motioned for one of the elven servants and commanded him to bring drinks.

                “How small?” Germain wanted to know.

                “So small that it will not even be born for a few more months,” Gaspard shrugged nonchalantly.  “Caitlyn is pregnant.”

                Germain sat up straighter.  Where was that elf with a drink?  He needed it now.  “I have heard that she is quite the beauty, but couldn’t you have waited until your wedding night?”

                “Oh, it isn’t mine.”  The elf had returned with the drinks and Gaspard took his.

                Germain downed his Antivan whiskey in one shot.  “Whose?”

                “She is carrying the only child that I know of of King Alistair of Ferelden,” Gaspard announced.  “A child who will be raised in Orlais by the emperor himself.”

                “I could see how that could work to our advantage,” Germain agreed.  “Does Alistair know?”

                “Not yet, but I will make sure he does when the time is right.”

 


	20. Highever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caitlyn, finally, visits her brother

Caitlyn gazed up at stone towers rising over green pines.  Castle Cousland, Fergus had rebuilt it.  The last she had seen of her family’s castle was it in flames as the Howes brought their determination to end the Couslands to near fruition.  Now the castle had been rebuilt and the family was rebuilding itself.  She placed a hand on her round abdomen.  “Welcome to your family’s home, little one.  There will always be a place for you here.”  She looked over at Fiona and beamed.  “I’m home!”

                “Almost,” Fiona could not help but envy Caitlyn for having such a place.  She knew there were those who had tried to take it from her, yet here it was; a place that would always be hers.  A place to which she belonged.

                Caitlyn raced Anastasia up the hill to the castle gates.  Two guards she did not recognize stood sentry, blocking her from rushing in.  “I most know your business my lady before I can let you precede one announced.

                The other’s eyes widened.  “It’s her!” She turned to her companion.  “It’s her ladyship, Lady Cousland has returned home!  I don’t think you would remember me; I was a child when you left.  I sold apples and cheese to your parents as a little girl.  My parents own a farm outside the village.  Welcome home, my lady.”  She turned to her companion.  “Go tell the teryn.  It’s his sister.” 

                Caitlyn was dismounting when a tall, brown haired, familiar figure came racing to her.  She felt herself being lifted in the air as Fergus spun her around.  “Cait, why did you wait so long to come home?  I’ve missed you, pup.”

                Caitlyn clung to him, somehow managing to laugh and cry at the same time.  “I’ve been busy.”

                He pulled back and examined the evidence of her pregnancy.  “I can see that.”

                She smacked him playfully.  “Not that.  I am heading to Denerim next.  We,” she indicated Fiona who was walking up to them.  “Are investigating the possible use of fade rifts for time travel.”

                “Not merely possible, my lord,” Fiona added.  “We are sure that it has been done.  That is how your little sister here died and was left in stasis in the Fade.”

                “Someone travelled back in time to arrange your murder?”  Fergus pulled his sister close.  “They are still out there?”

                “Um…” Caitlyn pulled back a little.  “Actually, they have tried to kill me since my return.”

                “What?”  Fergus pulled back.  “You are not leaving here until this is resolved.  I will not have you putting yourself in more danger.”

                “I can handle myself,” Caitlyn’s hands moved to her hips.  “I am a big girl; I have killed an arch demon after all.  I am not going to let these assassins scare me.”

                “Well, they scare me,” Fergus was beginning to shout.  The thought of the little sister whom the Maker had returned being in danger caused him to flash back to when he finally managed to emerge from the wilds only to learn that his entire family had been slaughtered.  “I can’t…”

                “Daddy!”  A pair of young brunette children ran up to him, cutting him off.

                “My pups,” he knelt down and hugged both of them.  “Bryce, Lyn, meet your Aunt Caitlyn.”

                “Caitlyn.  That is my name too, but everyone calls me Lyn. Are you here to see our new baby?” Lyn asked.  “She’s tiny and her name is Eleanor.”

                “Are you also having a baby?”  Bryce inquired, patting Caitlyn’s belly.  “Mama started to look that way before she had El.”

                “I am going to have one,” Caitlyn revealed.  “Can I see your new sister?”

                “Uh, huh,” Lyn took her hand and led her towards the family quarters.  “You have to be quiet, though, if she is sleeping.”

                “They’re adorable,” Caitlyn beamed at Fergus.

                “Where’s your baby’s daddy?” Bryce wanted to know.

                All right, maybe not that adorable.   “Um, well,” she looked back at Fiona for help.  That mage just shrugged and shook her head looking as lost as Caitlyn felt.  “He isn’t with me.  Some bad people hurt me and they managed to separate us.”

                “Then why don’t you go find him?” Lyn inquired.  “It is like in the fairytales when the evil blood mage, usually a Tevintor Magister, puts a curse on the princess and the prince has to rescue her.  If your prince didn’t rescue you, then maybe he needs to be rescued.  You should find him and rescue him.”

                Fergus gave his sister a sympathetic smile.  “I recently received a letter from Orlais that told me your aunt has a new prince now.”

                “No,” Lyn shook her head.  “You need to rescue your prince first.  You can’t just get a new one.”

                If only it were that simple. Caitlyn smiled down at the girl, wondering what she could say to make her understand.  She was saved by her nephew… sort of.  “Those are some cool looking swords,” he looked at the dual swords she carried.  “Can I touch them?”

                “No,” his father and aunt said together.

                He looked up at them with big green eyes; ones that Caitlyn had just realized were the same shade as hers.  “Please?”  Luckily they had reached what used to be her parents rooms. 

Fergus quietly opened the door to reveal Alfstanna lying in bed, with an almost bald baby in her arms.  Caitlyn knew her; she was the Bann of Waking Sea.  She had rescued Alfstanna’s brother from Howe’s dungeon in Denerim.  “It’s good to see you again,” Caitlyn walked in.  “Especially under better circumstances.” 

Alfstanna only laughed.  “Come meet the newest Cousland.”

 

 ***

 

                Caitlyn sat on an old blanket set in tall grass as she watched Bryce and Lyn duel with sticks.  She laughed when she heard Lyn declare that Bryce had to play Howe while she played Aunt Caitlyn, because Bryce was a boy like Howe.

                “The death of Arl Rendon Howe is her favorite game,” Fergus admitted from beside her.  “Between her mother and I, I am afraid that the Howes have not gained a sterling reputation here in Highever and we both enjoy telling of how you hunted him down and avenged our parents and what he had done to her brother.”

                Caitlyn took a grape from the basket that sat between them.  “I’m glad you two found each other.”

                “So am I,” he admitted.  “I will never stop grieving for all I lost, but they definitely help.  I want to talk to you about something else, though.”

                “Oh?”  She kept her eyes on her niece and nephew.

  Lyn had just called her brother a loathsome traitor and declared that she would be avenged.  She then looked back at someone who was not there.  “Stand back my handsome prince, this one is mine alone.”  Caitlyn almost choked on her grape.  Her handsome prince had indeed let her kill Howe without interfering, knowing it was important to her that she make the killing blow.

“I received a letter from Emperor Gaspard,” Fergus distracted her.  “He asked for your hand in marriage.”

Caitlyn took a long drink from her water bottle.  “I know.  He said he would send it as soon as I agreed to marry him.”

“You agreed?”  Fergus sat up.  “He is Orlesian.”

Caitlyn glanced at the children to make sure they were not listening in.  “He is the emperor of Orlais.  Think of what this marriage could do for the family.  No one would dare strike at the children of the Teryn of Highever if they were also the nephew and nieces of the Empress of Orlais.  Plus, your political clout could only go up.”

“I don’t care that much for politics,” he huffed.  “Caitlyn, our parents promised you that you could marry for love.  I want that promise kept.”

                “Oh Fergus,” she beat back the tears that crept into her eyes.  “My handsome prince has married another.  He married for day.  I can not marry for love so duty is all that I have left as well.”

                He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.  “Tell me that you do love Gaspard,” he begged.  “After all, you are obviously having his baby.  For that reason alone I must give my blessing.”

                She laughed, it was watery and bitter.  “Why is it that everyone assumes that Gaspard is this baby’s father?”

                “You aren’t the type to sleep around,” he gritted through his teeth.  “Who is the father then?  Does Gaspard know?”

                “Yes, he knows,” she sighed.  “Do the math, Fergus.  I was pregnant before I left the Fade, before I went in then obviously.”

                “It is Alistair’s baby,” he looked back at his children.  “He is the father.”

                “He is,” she confirmed.  “I have not been able to tell him.  You may tell him if you must.”

                He wondered what it would be like to have a child out there and not even know about it.  Yet the king had married Anora and he could not just ride up to Denerim castle and demand the king do right by his sister.  No matter how much he would like to punch the king at the moment.  The least he could do is not stand in her way as she wed someone willing to take them both on.  “I will give my blessing, although I suspect that neither of you required it.  You would wed with or without it.”

                “Of course we would,” she shrugged.  “This just means we will not have any awkward silences at the wedding.”


	21. Frostback Basin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Inquisitor and company run into Ferelden's king and soldiers

The Jaws of Hakkon were definitely becoming a thorn in her side, Selina thought as she summoned a barrier around herself and Varric.  She then threw chain lightning at the small camp of Avaar, as Varric knelt to aim.  She was impressed when the Avaar he had targeted flew back, and then actually fell asleep.  She watched as Cassandra lunged at yet another of their opponents and Cole flashed from the shadows to strike with his daggers.

                They had stopped in Val Royeaux to chase after Blackwall and whatever mess he had gotten himself into.  Right, Blackwall, she snorted internally, as she threw a lightning bolt at a large worshipper of Hakkon who had been bearing down on Dorian with a nasty looking shield.  It turned out that Warden Blackwall was long dead.  Thom Rainier, a wanted killer in Orlais, had taken his place.  Only he had gone to Val Royeaux to trade his life for that of one of his men.  He seemed truly repentant.  She had told Cullen to get him out of prison, but she still wasn’t sure what she was going to do with him.

                She pulled produced her spirit blade as one of the Avaar managed to breach her barrier, fade stepping before she let her magical sword slice into him.  She had been pleasantly surprised to run into Cullen as she was leaving the prison where Rainier was kept.  He had come to her with a file Leliana prepared, which meant Leliana had already known all about Rainier.  They had talked about what they were going to do with the faux Warden, and then he had just turned to leave.  She knew he was still shy about showing open affection in front of Random Orlesians, but she had followed him out, unwilling to let him go back to his men without any outward show of affection.

                Of course, once she went storming after him, he had pulled her into a nearby alley and kissed her senseless.  She then informed him that he would not be returning to his men that night and Cassandra would be informing them of that and keeping an eye on them until their commander returned.  Rather, that commander would be taking her to dinner, after which he would be getting them a nice room in a local inn.  He had happily complied, although he had place his hand on the back of his neck and stuttered a little bit when he got them their table and their room.  He had been less nervous once they were alone.  She smiled at the memory, as her blade cut threw yet another of the Avaars.  She moved to create another storm when she realized that there were no more Jaws of Hakkon to fight.

                “We have secured another camp,” Cassandra reported.  “According to my information, we have only two more to go until we break their hold on the river.”

                “All right,” the Iron Bull grinned impishly.  “More mayhem to come.”

                “I still cannot believe that Rainier fooled us all,” Cassandra muttered, as they sought out the next camp of the Jaws of Hakkon.  “What do you plan to do with him, Selina?”

                “I don’t know,” she admitted.

                “Give him to the Grey Wardens,” Sera advised.  “Isn’t that what the real Blackwall planned to do anyway?”

                “No,” Solas dissented.  “You should not have saved that order, do not give them someone else.”

                “You just don’t like them because they were killing all of those old gods so they can’t become arch demons,” Sera countered.  “Just go back to your Fadey things and let the rest of us sort this out.”

                “Oh, could you children just pipe down,” Vivienne grumbled.

                Selina actually smiled when they found the next camp.  This meant her companions would shut up for two seconds.  She unleased a bolt of chain lightning before, once again, bringing up her barrier.  Sera and Iron Bull high fived each other before they both rushed into the battle. 

                As Cassandra drained the mana from the Jaws of Hakkon’s mage, Selina unleased a lightning storm.  Soon, the Avaar lay dead at their feet.  Sera let out a little whoop as she happily looted the Jaws of Hakkons’ possessions. 

                “I wonder if Rose is having as much fun in Highever and Denerim,” Varric reholstered Bianca, as they began to search for the last camp. 

                “I want her to wait until we can join her before she goes to Denerim,” Selina reminded him.  “Those assassins are likely to try for her again.”

                “We’ll get there as quickly as we can,” Cassandra assured her friends.  “I just hope her family can keep her occupied until then.”

                It was not long until they reached the next camp, where a surprise waited for them.  The Jaws of Hakkon already lay dead.  A large contingent of Ferelden soldiers were milling around, discussing where they should set up came for the night.  As Selina approached them, King Alistair emerged from the group to greet her.  “Inquisitor, fancy meeting you here,” his eyes skimmed her group, as if searching for something or someone.

                “Your majesty, I might say the same,” she wondered what they were doing there.  “We are here searching for the resting place of Inquisitor Ameridan, as well as reports of a possible dragon possessed by an Avaar God.”

                “Really?”  That was something new.  He had not heard about the dragon.  Truth be told, Chatbleu had insisted that he get out of the castle while the espionage expert investigated yet another possible plot against him.  It was probably Anora who was obviously pissed off that he had rejected her advances while her lover’s wife was in town.  She had tried to deny that part, but Chatbleu had confirmed that his guess was right, even if he had not told Alistair who the lover was.  Alistair was still sure that it was Eamon.  It would surely explain some of Isolde’s hostility towards her own husband.  “Do you need help with that?”

                “I will let you know,” she smiled.  “For now, why don’t you join us at one of our camps and tell me what brings you here.  We already have several established around the basin and they are safer than this one.”

                “Very well, we accept your kind offer,” he signaled for one of his lieutenants and had her convey to the soldiers that they would be joining the Inquisition for the night.  “We are chasing after a group of rebels who attacked Amaranthine.”

                “Don’t Ferelden’s Grey Wardens hold that town?”  Cassandra questioned.

                “Normally, yes, but I sent them on a mission when the false calling started,” Alistair admitted.  “They are looking for a cure.”

                “Really?” Sera jostled her way towards the king and Inquisitor as they travelled to the closest camp.  “Caitlyn Cousland and Enchantress Fiona are working on one, too.  They seem to be getting close.  They both managed to cure themselves, anyway.”

                Alistair stopped walking and turned towards the elf.  “Caitlyn is no longer a Grey Warden?”

                “She was cured when we freed her in the Fade,” Selina confirmed.

                Alistair looked back at the Inquisitor’s group again, still searching.  “She isn’t with us,” Varric spoke up.

                “What?”  Alistair tried to look innocent.  “Where is she?  I mean… uh… who isn’t with you?”

                Varric didn’t try to hide his smile.  “Caitlyn is in Highever.  You must know that her sister-in-law recently had a baby.”

                He had heard that the Taryna of Highever had recently given birth to a healthy daughter.  He should be relieved that she was not there, but he had to admit to himself that he wasn’t.  Too large of a part of him wanted to be able to see her again, not just in a dream but face to face.  He yearned to just touch her.  No, it was better this way.  During their joint dream she had told him that she was going to enter a political marriage, he would never be able to get her back.  Yet if he were to be able to touch and hold her, he wasn’t sure he could just let her go. 

                “The Mabari puppy was a nice touch, though,” Dorian gave his input.  “I don’t know what it is with Fereldens and their dogs, but she just about melted at that gift.  Commander Cullen jumped at the chance to pet sit it when she went to Ferelden.”

                Alistair shook his head at the irony.  He was in the Frostback Mountains and she was in Ferelden. 

                Cole spoke from the back of the group.  “She tells herself that she will be happy with another.  He will bring her security and power.  Duty will be answered, but her heart is screaming at her to stop, to go to him, to fight for him.  She just cannot hear it over the walls she has tried to build around it.  The walls are not strong, though.  Either you must breach them or it is her heart, not the walls, which will crumble.”

                Alistair glanced back at the strange man.  What in Andraste’s name was he talking about?  As they reached the camp and began to settle for the night, he approached Selina again.  His hand wondered to his pocket where he kept the white rune stone that Caitlyn had given him for his birthday.  “How is she?”

                Sera, who was sitting nearby spoke up.  “She is pre…”

                “She is fine,” Selina glanced sharply at her companion. “She is busy between trying to figure out who tried to kill her and looking into a cure for the Calling.”

                Alistair nodded and began to walk back to his men.

                Cole spoke up again.  “He needs to be back by her side, but he listens to those who whisper of duty to his country rather than the duties of his heart.  They manipulate him to do what they want, yet all he wants is to have her back by his side.  They both hurt, yet pride and duty keep them apart.  It makes no sense.”

                “Alistair…”  Selina chased after him; placing a hand on his arm she whispered “she misses you.”

 


	22. Denerim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is another assassination attempt and shopping.

“We should have waited for the Inquisitor,” Fiona reminded Caitlyn as they examined the area on the rooftop of Fort Drakon.  “At least we should have waited for Dorian to join us.  He is the one who has been collecting the magic samples.” 

                “If I waited much longer, I would not be able to sit my horse for the return journey,” Caitlyn pulled her cloak tighter around her as she scanned her surroundings.  “I didn’t realize that being back here would affect me so much.”  She pointed to a raised area of the roof.  That is where I killed the arch demon.”

                “Where was Alistair at the time?”  Fiona prompted.

                Caitlyn looked around again.  “He was somewhere over there,” she pointed.  He had been hacking his way through darkspawn, making his way back to the arch demon.

                Fiona examined the area.  “The rift should have opened in this general area then,” she moved near to the area where Caitlyn had indicated.  “Will you go see Alistair while you are in the city?”

                Caitlyn had considered going to confront him while she was in Denerim, but showing up when she was near her seventh month of pregnancy did not seem ideal.  It was definitely not the way to tell a man you were having his baby.  Then again, he had a right to know before she actually gave birth.  “I do not believe that now is the best time to do so … I don’t know.”  Could she stay away?  “Are you going to see him?  Your only child is nearby, after all.”

                “No,” Fiona knelt and began examining a spot, then pulled out a vial.  “It is best I do not.  Knowing that I am his mother would only hurt him.”

                “Not having a mother has always hurt him,” Caitlyn countered.  “Perhaps knowing your true relationship will help him heal some of the pains of his childhood.  He deserves to know the truth.”

                “Like the truth that you are about to give birth to his child?” Fiona pointed out.

                “Touché,” Caitlyn decided to change the subject.  “Speaking of his child, I would like the baby to give the baby your name as her middle name if it is a girl.  I want her to have that connection to you and her true heritage.  No one need realize that it is because you are her grandmother.”

                Fiona put a stopper in the vial and stood a soft smile on her face.  “I would like that.  What if it is a boy, though?”

                “Cole keeps referring to her as a girl, maybe he knows something.  Plus, Fergus already used Bryce, which was our father’s name, but I was thinking…” A sharp cry interrupted her, as someone grabbed her and forced her gently to the ground.  She heard fighting in the background.  She looked up to see Bann Loren.  Beside him was a man in a Ferelden uniform who spoke rapidly to Loren with an Orlesian accent.  “I thought you were dead.”

                She then noticed that Cassandra was fighting three men at once.  One looked like an older version of the sketch Dorian had made when Connor described his killer.  She drew her swords and went to wage into the struggle.  Loren laid a hand on her arm to stop her.  “You are obviously in no condition to be fighting.”

                She examined herself.  She appeared unharmed.  “Why?”

                Cassandra approached them, having already dealt with her opponents.  Not a hair on her head was out of place.  “Bann Loren.  It is interesting to see you here.  Would you care to explain to me Lord Lucius was at your castle, luring in Seekers?”

                “The Seekers kicked me out of my own castle months ago,” Loren reported.  “I was looking for you and had heard that there were two members of the Inquisition up here.  It is good to see you again, Caitlyn.  I swear you have barely aged since last time.”

                Loren’s was Dairrian’s father.  His wife had been her mother’s best friend.  Both had died when the Howes attacked the Couslands.  She didn’t know what to say to him now.  She didn’t get a chance, though.  Selina was stalking towards her, her face a cloud of fury.

                “Who were those men?”  She questioned Cassandra.

                “Assassins,” Cassandra said simply.

                “I thought so,” Selina turned on Caitlyn.  “I thought I told you to wait in Highever until we could join you.”

                “I can barely sit a horse anymore,” Caitlyn waived to her obviously pregnant belly. 

                “Why didn’t you just ask the king or queen for Ferelden soldiers to guard you while up here?”  Sera wondered.  “You are the freaking Hero of Ferelden, I am sure they would lend you a few soldiers.” 

                “Um…” How to address the fact that she did not want to see the king or queen of Ferelden? 

                “I do not believe that either of us would receive a warm welcome at the castle,” Fiona simply pointed out.  “After all, the last time I met up with King Alistair he threw me, and the rest of the mages, out of the country.”

                “Ugh, this is ridiculous,” Cassandra grabbed Cole and Vivienne.  “Let’s go see his majesty.  I am going to tell him that you are in Denerim,” she warned Caitlyn and Fiona.  “That is after I yell at him for not protecting you.”

                “Let’s hurry this up,” Vivienne sniffed.  “I swear this entire city smells like wet dog.”

                “So what do we do while she goes to the king to tattle on us?” Varric wondered.

                “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am going shopping,” Caitlyn made her way back down into the city.  “I have a baby coming in a few months.”

                “Why not?” let’s go shopping, Varric was enthusiastic. 

                As they reentered the city, Sera looked around.  “I grew up here.  Right there,” she indicated an alley near the Gnawed Noble Tavern is the first place I relieved some bloke of his pocket’s contents.”

                “Really?” Caitlyn looked where she was pointing.  “I killed one of Loghain’s men in a duel in that same alley.”

                “All right!  Violence in the streets of Denerim.  High five!” Sera held up a hand.

                Caitlyn was a bit surprised; Sera had never been friendly towards her.  Still, she lightly slapped the elf’s hand. 

                “Is that Wade’s shop?” Selina approached an armory.  “He has shared some of his designs with the Inquisition.  I would really like to see more of his work.”  She walked in.

                “Um, Selina… I don’t know if I should go in there,” Caitlyn followed her.

                “Inquisitor,” Herron, Wade’s partner drew up when he saw her.  “I cannot believe the Herald of Andraste would…”  He trailed off when he saw Caitlyn behind her and his eyes narrowed.  “ _You._   I thought I made it clear that you were no longer welcome here.”

                Varric chuckled.  “What did you do to him, Rose?”

                The commotion had drawn Wade’s attention and he rushed to the front of the shop.  He gasped and clutched his hands together.  “Herron, we have both the Herald of Andraste and the Hero of Ferelden in our shop.  Together, this is glorious.”  He addressed Caitlyn.  “I cannot thank you enough for starting me on my work with dragon scales and bones.  It has been glorious.  The Inquisitor has been sending me material in exchange for my designs.”

                Caitlyn grinned at him.  “I’m glad you are enjoying your art.”

                “Do you have any new designs that you can show me?” Selina inquired.

                “I have many new designs, but most of them are garbage,” Wade went to a pile of parchment.  “This one is… all right,” he showed her one of his designs.  It was impressive. 

                “Could you have a copy sent to me?”  Selina continued to admire the drawing.

                “Only on one condition,” he turned to Caitlyn.  “You must let me make something for the baby, perhaps a cradle, or a baby carrier, or a little suit of armor.”

                Caitlyn laughed.  “A cradle sounds nice; I don’t think they need a suit of armor yet.”  Although a baby carrier that was light weight dragon bone could protect her baby in case of attack.

                “I will get to work on it right away,” Wade began to sketch.  “Herron, cancel my appointments for the rest of the week.  I must get to work.  This will be a thing of beauty.   Think of it, I am branching out into baby furniture.  No arrow or sword will be able to get through to the infant.”

                A few minutes later, they found themselves out in the street.  “I cannot believe Herron just threw us out,” Dorian blustered.

                “You get used to it,” Caitlyn gave him a half smile.  “Where to next?  I want to purchase some clothes for the little one.”

                “Well,” Iron Bull coughed.  “I spotted a little shop that provides a certain type of … toy.  I think Dorian and I need to go check it out.  Alone.”

                Dorian’s face turned pink and he refused to look at his lover.  Sera laughed.  “Maybe I want to come look too.”

                “I am not going,” Solas muttered.

                “We’ll split up and meet back here,” Selina announced.  “Caitlyn and I will be going to the seamstress.”  She also wanted to find a gift for Cullen and Solas and Sera were hopeless at picking out things that an ex-Templar would like.  Caitlyn, on the other hand, used to be involved with an ex-Templar herself.  Varric was technically a member of the Merchant’s Guild and could help her pick something out.  “Solas, why don’t you go purchase new paints or a bed or something.”  What else did an elf who spent his time exploring the Fade in his sleep and who had been painting in his motifs need?

                “You might want to check out The Wanders of Thedas,” Caitlyn interjected.  “It is down the street from the Gnawed Noble Tavern.

                Caitlyn was making orders in the seamstress shop when Cassandra joined them with Vivienne and Cole in tow.  She and the patroness were debating between mint green cotton or a dark green velvet material when they walked in. 

Selina grabbed Cassandra to show her the set of throwing knives she had purchased for Cullen.  They were polished to a gleam and had handles mixed with gold and dragon bone.  “Feel the weight,” she hefted one out for Cassandra.  “They are perfect for throwing at that training dummy he has in his office.”

“You bought your commander throwing knives?” Vivienne sniffed in disdain.  “You would do better to get him some nice fabric in here.  Something one of my Orlesian tailors could use to make him something other than those drab clothes he wears in Skyhold.  Perhaps something to replace that regrettable fur cloak of his.”

The patroness’ back went up at the mention of Orlesian tailors.  Caitlyn laid a gentle hand on the woman’s arm.  “Oh, she has gotten him something here as well.”  She grinned cheekily at her friend whose face was turning a deep pink.

“Really?” Vivienne looked around.

“You will never see it,” Selina assured her.  “As it is something that I will be wearing.”

“Not for long,” Caitlyn snickered, recalling the beautifully designed nightgown Selina was having made from a sheer light blue fabric.

“I do not know why you are wasting your time getting clothes here,” Vivienne turned her attention on Caitlyn.  “Once you marry Gaspard, I am sure that he will take care of the clothes and furniture for you and your baby.  He would not want his wife and her child dressed in Ferelden fashions.”

Caitlyn’s expression darkened.  “This baby and I are Fereldens and we will dress as such.  We will not be dictated to nor will others choose how we present ourselves.”  She turned back to the seamstress.  I will be getting married soon, let’s talk wedding dress designs.  I want the dress to be distinctly Ferelden and I want you to make it.”

“Let me get my sketch pad,” she happily ran into the back of the office.

“You Fereldens wouldn’t even let us into their castle,” Vivienne sniffed.

“Alistair was not there anyway,” Cassandra added.   “He hasn't returned since he went chasing after those rebels. His advisor, Arl Eamon, did keep us out though.”

“He’s afraid of us,” Cole explained.  “He has secrets within secrets and is afraid we will learn them.  He is especially afraid of her,” he indicated Caitlyn.  “She has too much influence over the king.  She can get him to do what she wants instead of what he wants him to.  He fears losing power above all else.”

“As do many,” Cassandra patted his shoulder.

“Let’s get this wedding dress designed, and then head home,” Selina declared, as Caitlyn made plans to come back for a measuring after she had her baby.  “I want to get back to Skyhold.”


	23. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected dwarf arrives

 

“It is obvious that Corypheus wants something in the Arbor Wilds,” Leliana informed Caitlyn as the pair watched Cullen training his men one bright, sunny, morning, about a month after Caitlyn’s return from Denerim.  He was pushing them, ensuring that they were ready to defend his Inquisitor as she faced Corypheus forces. The men and women under his command were in perfect form, their swords were up and their shields were blocking, but he was demanding better than perfection.

“Morrigan suspects that he is after an eluvian in the Temple of Mythal,” Caitlyn took a sip of tea.  Her puppy played at her feet.  She looked over to where Selina and Dorian stood together nearby, also watching the morning exercises.  The pair’s eyes were both on Cullen rather than his troops.

A small commotion by the gates drew Leliana’s attention.  “We have visitors.”  She saw Lady Isolde ride in, two of her personal guards right behind her.  She stood.  “I need to take this report.”

“Jim is holding his shield too low,” Cassandra took Leliana’s vacated spot.  Sure enough, Cullen began yelling at the soldier, telling him that if he had been in a real fight one of the Red Templars or Freemen would have killed him.

“How goes your efforts to find the rest of the Seekers?” Caitlyn inquired.

“Slow and frustrating,” Cassandra admitted.  “How is the cure for the Calling coming?”

“We have been studying the history and genealogy of the Theirin line,” Caitlyn explained.  “There are rumors of their blood being mixed with dragon blood and other things.  Alistair would probably kill us if he knew we had used the Inquisition’s resources to find the body of King Calenhad and taken samples.  The mages say they have found some interesting things.  We may just find this cure after all.”

“That is good,” Cassandra spied another soldier, she was unhappy with.  This one was gripping his sword too tightly.  “I will have to speak to Cullen about his men.”  She mentally added it to her list of things to do that day.  Her thoughts were interrupted by yet another commotion at the gates.

“It looks like we are in for a busy day,” Caitlyn muttered.  Her jaw dropped as one of the newest visitors came barreling towards her.  A red haired dwarf who smelled like the inside of a cheap bottle of Scotch threw his arms around her.  “Oghren?”

“It really is you,” he wiped away a single tear.  “I had heard you were back, but I didn’t dare believe it.  Plus, someone knocked you up.  I hope they gave you a good rutting while doing it.”

It was Oghren all right.  “What are you doing here?  I heard that you had joined the Ferelden Grey Wardens.  For that matter, why aren’t you still with Felsi?”  After everything she had done to get the couple back together, Caitlyn had been dismayed when Leliana told her that Oghren had left his wife and joined the Wardens.  She was even more unhappy when she learned that Felsi had been pregnant and Oghren was escaping his responsibilities.

“I’m here to see Leliana,” Oghren began to explain.  “King Alistair sent us to the far west almost a year ago to find a cure for the Calling.  By us, I mean the Wardens who are stationed in Amaranthine.  Well, we’re back.  Commander Howe is going to report to the king, but I heard that the Inquisition was looking for a cure, and you had joined them, so I came to you instead.  Boy are Howe and King Alistair going to be mad when they realized that I came here and what I brought you.  We don’t have a cure, yet, but I have something that will help whoever Leliana has working on it.”

“That would be me,” Caitlyn attempted to bend over to pick up her puppy, but discovered that bending was now a problem.  Instead she whistled at him and he followed her as she began to lead Oghren inside.    “Wait, the head of the Grey Warden in Amaranthine is a Howe?”

“Nathaniel Howe,” Oghren confirmed.

Caitlyn had met him before.  He was the older son of Rendon Howe.  How could Alistair sit idly by and let him control Amaranthine?  Did he not care what the Howes did to her family?  She wanted to rail at him for this.  How could she find a way to tell them about their baby, when he would let the son of the man who betrayed and slaughtered her family sit as the Warden Commander in Ferelden?

“Wait, it can’t be,” Varric guffawed when they walked into the main hall.  “Aren’t you Felsi’s husband?  Oghren?  You lost an epic battle to a roasted nug.”

“It was a sodding good roast,” Oghren grumbled. 

They cut through Solas’ rooms to get to the closest stairs to the library.  Caitlyn had always wondered why he had not insisted on some place more private.  “Hey,” Oghren looked at Solas, who had his nose was sitting at his desk writing.  “Who is the bald, skinny egg-headed elf?  The only other bald elf I have ever seen was hundreds of years old.  Is this one?”

Solas looked up and regarded the drunken dwarf in Grey Warden armor with disgust.  “I do not discuss my age with drunken dwarves or with Grey Wardens.”

“Oh, yeah,” Oghren hiccupped.  “Someday a Warden is going to take you down… or a dwarf… or maybe a drunk, but you’re going down buddy.”

Caitlyn gripped Oghren’s collar.  “Come on, before you start a war or something.”

When they approached Fiona in the library, the mage stood up to greet them.  “See,” Oghren plumped down in a chair.  “This is a proper elf.”

“He just met Solas,” Caitlyn explained.  “And managed to insult him thoroughly in less than five minutes.”

“Well, Solas likes to insult my people, so I don’t mind,” Fiona turned her attention on Oghren.  “What brings you here?”

“This,” he placed a bag in Fiona’s hands.  “Everything we found in our quest to cure the Calling is in there.  Howe thinks he has it.  I bet he’s going to be pissed when he reports to Alistair.”   Oghren laughed at himself.

Fiona looked in the bag.  “Caitlyn,” she breathed.  “I think this is it.  This may be the last ingredient we needed.  We should have a cure within a matter of weeks.”


	24. Highever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alistair pays Fergus a visit

As Alistair rode up to Cousland Castle, he studied the impressive structure of stone and wood that jutted over pine trees and lorded over the town of Highever.  This was Caitlyn’s home.  He wondered why he had never come before.  He had been in Highever one other time, which was when he had sent a battalion of soldiers into Ostagar to retrieve Duncan’s body and brought it back to be buried there.  Yet he had still not gone to the castle, he had made the excuse that Fergus Cousland had obviously not wanted to see him, he had made his displeasure at Alistair marrying Anora and so soon after Caitlyn’s death well known, but now he admitted that he had been avoiding anything that reminded him of her.

“Your Majesty,” one of the guards greeted him.  “What… what brings you to Highever?”

“I need to see Teryn Cousland,” Alistair said simply.  “Please let him know I arrived.

“Wow, the Hero of Ferelden was here only a few months ago and now the King of Ferelden,” one of the guards whispered to their companions.

“You know Lady Cousland hates being called that,” the companion hissed.

He had heard that Caitlyn was here.  He had to admit to himself that part of him was hoping that she still was.  Eamon continued to remind him that seeking her out would be dishonorable and a betrayal to his country, but he couldn’t help if they happened to run into each other.  Could he?

“Your majesty,” Fergus greeted him coolly.  “What did you need of me?”

“I have received a message from Emperor Gaspard,” Alistair began.

“Oh?” Fergus choked.

Alistair plowed on without noticing Fergus’ discomfort.  “He wants to formalize a peace treaty between our two countries and has set the date for the talks for four months from now.  As my highest ranking noble, I would like you to attend.”

That was still a few months before Gaspard’s estimated date for his wedding to Caitlyn, Fergus realized.  He planned to have a peace treaty firmly in place before he married Ferelden’s king’s ex-fiancée and the sister of his highest ranking noble.  He had to applaud the timing.  “I would be honored your majesty.  As I would be honored if you stay the night here before continuing on.”

“I would like that,” Alistair nodded.

“Good, let me show you around,” he signaled for a servant and instructed her to notify the teryna that the king and his companions would be staying the night at their castle.  He walked out of the great hall to the courtyard where his twins were playing with one of their puppies.  “Those would be my two oldest, Bryce and Lyn.”

Alistair watched the two children playing and felt a tug in his chest.  He dearly wished that he had been blessed with children.   He wanted to go to Skyhold to see Kieren, but he knew Morrigan had never wanted him to be part of the child they would conceive from the dark ritual.  He envied the look on Fergus’ face as he watched his offspring.  The little girl came running up to him.  “Hello.”

“Hello,” Alistair scooched down so he was face to face with the girl.  “Who are you?”

“I’m Lyn, that’s short for Caitlyn.  I was named after my aunt, because daddy and mommy thought she was dead.  Over there is my twin, Bryce.  He was named after our grandfather.  Who are you?”

“My name is Alistair,” he extended his hand out to the girl and smiled when she shook it.  “Your father was just giving me a tour.”

“Can I come?” she turned wide eyes on her father.

Fergus glanced at Alistair who nodded his approval.  “Very well, come along, pup.”

They next entered the library.  “Daddy is getting me a tutor, I am going to have to study in here,” Lyn whispered loudly to Alistair.

Alistair had become distracted, though.  Hanging over one of the bookshelves was a picture of Caitlyn.  He had never seen it before.  Her hair was down, curling around her, and she wore a green velvet dress.  It had to have been done recently for the artist had caught the slight scar on her right temple.  She had received that scar fighting the undead in an ancient elven temple in the Brazilian Forest.  There had been werewolves occupying the bottom levels of the ruin.

“That is my Aunt Caitlyn,” Lyn informed him.  “It was painted after she returned from the dead and went to live in Skyhold.  She sent it to daddy to prove she was alive.”

“Did she?” Why hadn’t she sent him a painting?  Alistair had to fight the temptation to order his teryn to give it to him.

“She is getting married soon,” Lyn continued.  “I get to be in the wedding.”

“Lyn!” Fergus watched Alistair’s expression closely, but the king did not seem to react.

“She doesn’t get to marry her handsome prince, though,” Lyn continued.  “An evil blood mage must have put a curse on her, for she went into a deep sleep for ten years and everyone thought she was dead.  Instead of rescuing her like he should have, the handsome prince was deceived by an evil witch who was allied with a bad man that the prince trusted.  They tricked the handsome prince into marrying the bad witch instead.  The witch doesn’t have magic powers, but she is a thrice cursed whore spawn who only cares for power.”

“Lyn!  Where did you hear language like that?” Fergus demanded.

Lyn ignored her father and continued.  “So she is marrying for duty and power instead.  I think her prince still needs to rescue her.”  She batted her eyes up at Alistair.  “Who would sacrifice love for duty or power?  I think she might still have a spell on her and she needs someone to melt the ice around her heart like in the story of the queen from the Anderfels.  Not that she is cold like that queen.  She is a very good aunt.  Still, her prince needs to rescue her before she marries for bad reasons.”

“I apologize for my daughter,” Fergus huffed.  He suspected he knew who taught her the bad language.  The next thing he knew, his sister would be sending her a real sword.  He hoped having a child of her own would curtail such things.

“Don’t,” Alistair gently ruffled the girl’s curls, noting how similar they were in texture to her aunt’s.  “I would have loved to have a daughter like her.”

“Actually,” Fergus drew in a deep breath to inform the king that Caitlyn would soon be giving birth to their child, but found he could not.  It was her secret; she needed to be the one to tell him, even though he would have been furious if someone had hid any of his children from him.

“I had already heard that Caitlyn was getting married,” Alistair confessed.  “I just don’t know to whom.”

“You will know soon,” Fergus just did not want to tell his king before the peace talks.  He wasn’t sure if the information would help or hurt them.

“So, how does the handsome prince get rid of the evil witch so he can save his princess?” Alistair asked the father and daughter.  He really wanted to know who he could break from duty and vows made before Andraste, so he could go after his heroine.  One thing he knew for sure is that he would be sending a painter to Highever to replicate the painting.

 


	25. Skyhold & the Fade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another shared dream

Skyhold felt empty, Caitlyn noted as she sat in Dorian’s alcove.  The mage had claimed a little nook in the library for himself, which she and others had begun referring to as Dorian’s alcove.  It was a nice spot, there was a single, comfortable chair set in front of a large window and a couple of bookshelves...  She looked out over the castle, which was highlighted by a full moon that dominated a star filled sky, few clouds marred those stars.  Hawke Junior, as she had started calling the puppy, was asleep at her feet.  She rubbed her belly while she looked out at the dark.  Most of the Inquisition was in the Arbor Wilds, racing Corypheus and his army to a temple dedicated to the elven goddess Mythal.  They were afraid he was after and eluvian that would allow him to physically enter the Fade.

They had left Blackwall behind.  Selina had judged him before she left and declared that once Corypheus was defeated she would give him to the Grey Wardens.  Caitlyn knew that wasn’t necessarily a mercy.  She had been the only one to survive her joining.  Alistair had once mentioned that only one other recruit had survived his joining.  She supposed that she should go talk to him now that he no longer had to fear that she would know that he was no Grey Warden.  Still, she had other things to worry about.  One was, in fact, good news for Blackwall. 

They had done it.  They had figured out how to cure the Calling.  Now being recruited by the Grey Wardens was no longer an automatic death sentence.  They had already tested the cure on one Warden.  They would wait a week or so to be sure, but she was sure they had done it.  There was one Warden, though, that she was more anxious to cure than all the rest.  She needed to talk to him and knew only one way how. 

Caitlyn stood, supporting her well rounded abdomen.  The midwife said she still had a couple of weeks left to go, but she was ready to get this baby out of her now.  She made her way to her rooms and dug the mysterious crystal that Gaspard had given her out from where she had buried it in a trunk.  She placed it carefully down by the box that contained Alistair’s rose.  Then she climbed into bed.  The one nice thing about being pregnant was that she had no problems falling asleep.

She soon found herself sitting beside a pond.  She looked around and confirmed that she had seen it before.  It was near a favored camping spot during her time fighting the Fifth Blight.  She looked down and realized that she was still wearing her nightgown.  At least her dream state did not reveal her pregnancy.  She did not want to explain that to Alistair in a dream, if he ever showed up that was.  Then again, if he never came to see her face to face, when would she tell him about their child?

“Caitlyn?”  Alistair approached her.   She blinked in surprise as she realized that he only wore his smalls.  She couldn’t help but let her eyes wonder over his bare chest.  “I’m naked, aren’t I?”

“No,” she let the edges of her lips twitch up.  “You have your smalls on.”

“Is this another shared dream?  Couldn’t you have dreamt me up some clothes?”

“It’s your dream, too,” she pointed out.  “You could dream up something.  I’m here in my nightgown after all.”

“It’s pretty,” He closed his eyes and scrunched his face as if concentrating.  A pair of pants appeared out of thin air.  “Are you causing this?”  He pulled the pants on.

“I wish I could cause you to appear in nothing but your smalls,” she grumbled.

“No,” he laughed.  “Are you causing the shared dreams?”

“It is a crystal that, G… my suitor gave me,” she confessed.

“I have heard that you are getting married,” he sat down on a small boulder nearby.  “Who?”

She ignored the question.  “I need you to come to Skyhold.”

“I can’t,” he looked down at his hands.  “You know that.”

“Alistair,” she knelt before him, taking his hands in hers.  “We have found a cure for the Calling.  I need you to come take it.  It should work faster on you than anyone else.”

“Why?” He searched her face.

“It is something to do with the Theirin blood,” she continued to grip his hands.  “Fiona and her mages would have to explain all of the technical jargon to you.”

“I still can’t,” he leaned forward so his forehead was against hers.  “You can send someone to Denerim with it.  If I see you… I won’t be able to … well, I can’t… I can’t trust myself near you.”

“Then don’t trust yourself,” she placed her hands on his cheeks.  “I just need to be with you.”

He gripped her wrists and pulled away.  It hurt to do so; he needed her with him too.  “What about your fiancée?  Even if I am willing to abandon my vows and duty, you have now made promises to another.   I cannot let you give up your honor.   Who is he?”

She sat down and rested her forehead against her legs.  “Why does it matter to you?”

“I want you to be happy,” he pleaded.  “Please tell me who it is so I know that you will be happy.  That you will have a good life with him.”

“Are you happy with Anora?” She shot back.

He could not bring himself to lie.  He wasn’t happy.  He was with a woman he could not bring himself to touch, but whom his advisor was apparently touching all of the time.  He was trapped and didn’t see a way out.  He did not want that for her.  He just looked away.

“I’ll have the cure sent,” she stood and started to walk away, but turned back.  “I will also make sure you get an invitation to the wedding.  There is one more thing that I need to tell you.  Alistair, I … well, I’m….”

There was a loud uproar in Skyhold that had Caitlyn sitting up in bed.  She wiped at the tears that threatened to emerge and made her way outside.  Selina had just drank from something called the Well of Sorrows and brought her team through and eluvian that Morrigan had been keeping at Skyhold.  The Inquisitor was back and waiting for the return of her soldiers before revealing how she was going to stop Corypheus once and for all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome


	26. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hero of Ferelden has a baby.

The Inquisition’s Commander made record time getting back to Skyhold from the Arbor Wilds.  He was a little embarrassed that he had left one of his lieutenants, Rylen, to march the bulk of the Inquisition’s forces back and had raced back with a small group.  He did not have to wait long to confirm that his Inquisitor had come back through the eluvian.  She bolted out of Skyhold to greet him when his company was spotted. 

The soldiers liked to retell the story of how Selina had run out of Skyhold’s grand gates, her strawberry blonde, hair whipping behind her and wearing only a chime and cloak.  When he saw her, Cullen had flung off his silver, lion’s head helm; not noticing that it hit one of his soldiers and caused the poor man to fall from his horse; arms flailing.  The commander had vaulted off of his own horse and ran to meet the love of his life, gathered her up in his arms, and twirled her around.  It was the most undignified they had seen either of the pair.  Cullen then lifted Selina onto his horse, mounted behind her, and rode proudly into the keep, making sure he kept here near all day. 

                The Inquisitor was in the war room with her advisors the next day, discussing how they would take down Corypheus once and for all, when Gaspard arrived with a small group of Orlesians.

                “He is here again?” Leliana was getting incensed.  “Doesn’t he have a country to run?”

                “I’m sure he will stop finding excuses to impose on us once he marries Lady Cousland,” Josephine assured her.  “I will go speak with him.”  She and Leliana left the War room.

Morrigan trailed out behind them.  “Why are the Inquisitor and Commander staying behind?” She questioned, noticing that neither had even made a move to leave the room.  “Should I go back and see what is wrong?”

“I doubt they would appreciate that,” Leliana giggled.  “Why don’t you go and tell Caitlyn that her intended is here.  Maybe she would like to join the meeting with Josie and Gaspard.”

“The way she is moving of late, the meeting will be over before she gets there,” Morrigan still went to find her friend.

“She’s right,” Josephine walked into her office.  “The Hero looks like she is ready to pop that baby out at any second.”  She waited a few minutes until Gaspard walked in.  “What can I do for you, your Imperial Highness?”

He sat down across from her.  “I have heard that Grey Warden cure is complete. I would like to see it.”

“Of course,” she rearranged some of her paper.  “I will schedule a time for Lady Cousland or Enchanter Fiona to demonstrate it for you.  They have been administrating it to any Wardens who wish for it, although few of the Orlesian Wardens have taken it yet as they had no senior members left in their order when they joined us.  Varric has contacted Hawke and he will let the Grey Wardens at their main base in Weisshupt know.”

“What about Ferelden’s Grey Wardens?  Do they know?”  He could use this knowledge to his advantage in his peace talks with Ferelden.

“They do,” Josephine confirmed.  “Warden Oghren took it back to Amaranthine with him when he left Skyhold.  I am sure that they have told King Alistair by now.  Hopefully, he has taken it as well.”

So much for using that advantage when he negotiated with Ferelden; Gaspard grumbled internally.  Could the Inquisition leave him nothing to work with?  “I would also like to begin preparations for the peace talks with Ferelden.  I would like to hold them at the Winter Palace in Halamshiral if possible.”

She had assumed that he would.  She also knew that King Alistair would agree to know such thing.  “I have spoken to Ferelden.  The king’s advisor, Eamon, requested that the talks happen in Denerim.”

“I will not subject my court to that place,” Gaspard sniffed and his back straightened.  “That city smells of wet dog.”

“That is why I suggest a more neutral place,” Josephine continued.  “I will make arrangements for the talks to take place in Jader.  It is in Orlais, but is closer to the Ferelden border.  For security reasons, I request that you keep the location secret until just before the talks.  I will also only tell King Alistair the exact setting and advise that he, too, keep it secret.  I would also suggest moving the talks up.  I do not know why you insist that they be another three months away.”

“Jader is fine,” Gaspard conceded.  “I expect that the Inquisition will ensure security.  I also expect that you will guarantee that my outlined request for ceremonies and entertainment be followed.  Let the Fereldens add what they want to.  I will not concede on the time period, though.  I will be presenting my intended to the Council of Heralds after the peace talks for their formal recognition of our betrothal.  I must wait until I am sure she can travel.”

Josephine smiled.  “That is your real reason for coming here now, isn’t it?  You know that Lady Cousland should be giving birth any day.  You came for her and the baby.”

“She is a good match for me, I could not ask for anything more.  The fact that I am in love with that beautiful spitfire is just an added bonus,” he confessed.

Josephine tried not to smile too widely at that pleasant surprise.  “You…” 

She was interrupted as Sera strolled in.   “Hey, Gaspy.  Yo, Josie, Caitlyn is in labor.  Leliana wants you to prepare a little celebration for when the baby gets here.”

 

 

Caitlyn found herself in labor for eight hours.  It amazed her how much traffic came into her rooms during the interim.  Her midwife kept shooing everyone out.  She had to fight the woman to let certain people remain.  Fiona, naturally, stayed close by.  She claimed that it was so she could quickly call on any of her healers if there was need.  Yet, she suspected that Fiona wanted to be there to watch her grandchild come into the world.  They were still debating on what the baby should call her when it began to talk.

Varric was in the room often as well.  He read to her from his Hightown series.  She realized that it was really a privilege to hear the author himself read his work to her.  At one point, when Cassandra came in, he switched to his latest book in his romance serial.  Caitlyn had protested that she hadn’t even gotten around to reading the first one.  She had no idea who Aveline even was.  Cassandra rolled her eyes, but she stayed in the room.

No one could have gotten Cole out of the room.  He murmured about not realizing that anyone could endure so much pain, but his presence seemed to help take the edge off.  She was a bit disturbed though at some of his ramblings, especially when he said “He should be here.  This isn’t the way it should be.  He should have been with her; he should have been here to see their daughter come into this world.  This is what they wanted together.”  He had been referring to her baby as a ‘her’ for several months now.  “She wants him here with her.”  She did indeed, but she didn’t want him here out of duty and sure didn’t want Anora or Eamon around her daughter at all.

Leliana stopped in several times.  She sang to Caitlyn a couple of times and told her that she had Josephine preparing a celebration banquet for her.  She asked Leliana to cancel the party, but her friend refused.

Morrigan came in with herbs to help ease the pain a bit more.  She assured Caitlyn that they would not hurt the baby.  Surprisingly, she stayed for a bit and listened to Varric’s tale.

Iron Bull and Dorian stopped in for about two seconds; both turned pale and quickly exited the room.  Morrigan had still been in the room.  She laughed hysterically.  “If Dorian had not been into men before, he certainly will be now.”

Selina paid her a visit as well.  She updated her on the plan to stop Corypheus.  She had a way to defeat his dragon, which luckily was no arch demon.  Now she just had to find them.  Cullen had also volunteered to take her puppy so he wouldn’t get in the way, so Selina took the dog with her.

Gaspard had rushed to her rooms the moment he learned that she was in labor.  However, when he came in and saw her panting through a contraction all of the blood had drained from his face and he actually staggered back.  He forced himself to stay, though, and stood vigil behind her head.

Finally, it was over and the midwife placed a tiny, squirming, baby girl in her arms.  She was already screaming her head off.  Caitlyn couldn’t help the smile that blossomed over her face.  She recalled how the baby’s father had told her how he used to scream in the middle of the night while studying at the chantry to become a Templar.  Everyone would come running and he would tell them that he was ‘just checking’.  Gaspard might talk about wanting to fix her broken heart, but as she looked into her daughter’s eyes, Caitlyn knew that this was the one person who had now been able to capture a piece of it.  She would do anything for her.  She turned to the others in the room.  “I would like to present to you Moira Fiona Cousland.”  Then she made a decision, she would declare her baby’s parentage to the world, it would not be a dark secret kept from the general populace.  “Moira Fiona Cousland Theirin that is.”

The midwife took the baby to clean her up.  She also shooed everyone out of the room so the baby could be fed and the mother could rest.  The dragon bone cradle that Wade had created for her was already set by her bed.  The only other person to remain was Fiona, who still refused to leave.  When the baby was clean, she took her from the midwife.  “People are going to wonder why she has my name,” she warned.

“Let them wonder,” Caitlyn wasn’t going to hide her daughter’s heritage from her, even if her grandmother still insisted that it be hid from the rest of the world.

“Maric would be overjoyed to know his granddaughter had his mother’s name, though,” Fiona wrapped Moira in a blanket that Caitlyn had never seen and handed her to her mother to be fed.  “I grew up listening to tales about the Rebel Queen,” Caitlyn recalled.  “I hope she takes after her great grandmother.”  She placed a hand on Moira’s soft blonde curls as they babe began to suckle.  “I also hope she keeps her blonde hair.” Alistair had dark blonde hair.  The curls, though, came from her.  “Where did you get this blanket?  It isn’t one of mine.”

When the midwife left, she revealed where the blanket had come from.  “It was the blanket that I first wrapped Alistair in.  I have kept it all these years; I hope it keeps his daughter warm as well.”  She kissed the top of Moira’s head.

The new family only had a couple of hours to themselves before everyone else began to arrive with gifts.  Solas and Sera both declared that they did not realize that people brought gifts to babies.  Some of the gifts were questionable and one might wish they did not know of the tradition, either.  Vivienne presented her with a little dress.  The light blue color was fine, but it had hundreds of stays and cinches.  The pointed collar was so stiff that it stuck out and It looked terribly uncomfortable.  Someone must have been interrogating the fabric to have tortured it so horribly.  There was a regrettable hat that went with it.  It was even worse than the claymore that Iron Bull presented.  At least Moira could use that in another fifteen years or so.  The dress wasn’t as bad as the flask that Oghren had sent, though.  There had been rotgut in it.

Other presents were better thought out.  Cole brought her a soft blanket and a stuffed rabbit.  Looking down at Moira, he commented that he didn’t know that humans came that small.  Cullen brought her a stuffed mabari, while Selina gave her a rattle that she had made on the forge from silverite.  Bull’s Charges did a better job than their boss.  It turned out that Krem sewed a bit, he had once revealed that his father used to be a tailor, so he had sewed her dozens of diapers and made the other chargers help.  Josephine brought her a pair of booties made from Antivan leather.  Leliana wrote her a lullaby. 

Varric had one upped Leliana and given her a book of fairytales and songs that he had written.  There was even one about the Massacre of Highever.  “She needs to know her heritage, so I put it down in song for you,” he explained.

Like Vivienne, Dorian had bought a dress for Moira.  He explained that with Cole declaring the baby to be a girl, he knew it to be so.  His dress was much better than Vivienne’s.  It was made from soft white lace with underlining in blue sea silk.  It was long, with a blue ribbon running though the lace near the chest.  It was truly lovely.  White on blue, it was the Cousland family colors.  He then presented a second dress.  The bodice was a soft gold and it had red and gold ruffles for the skirt, he said it was for when the baby came out as a Theirin.

Blackwall carried up a changing table that he had carved from a white pinewood.  There were drawers for Moira’s diapers, clothes, and other assorted things as he called them.  She was impressed.  When had he found time to make the table?

Morrigan presented her with a mobile made from different crystals.  It was lovely.  As Caitlyn had Blackwall hook it over the cradle, Morrigan explained what each crystal did.  Some were for protection, while others were meant to calm and promote serenity.  “Now the crystal in the middle,” she indicated the one she meant.  “’Tis a communication crystal.  Here is the other one,” she laid it on the changing table.  “This way if you are away from the room, you can hear her if she needs you.”

“Thank you,” Caitlyn hugged her.

“Well, I must look out for Kieren’s little sister, must not I?”

Gaspard was the last to enter the room with his gift.  He carried a doll with him.  He looked down at Caitlyn and the baby in his arms and felt his heart constrict.  As he gazed down at Moira he realized that there was nothing he would not do for them.  There was one other gift that he needed to give this precious new life and it might break his heart to do so.


	27. Skyhold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A next step is taken

Only weeks after Caitlyn had given birth, Corypheus made his move.  He returned to the ruins of the Temple of Andraste in Haven and once again used the elven orb that had created the first rifts to reopen the largest first one that he had created.  Most of the Inquisition’s army was still in the Arbor Wilds, but Selina could not wait for them.

She had arrived at the temple with only her inner circle.  As Corypheus had taunted Harding’s scouts to call on the Maker to save them, declaring that he was not there, Cassandra appeared cutting down the demons Corypheus had set on the scouts.  Then Selina had informed Corypheus that she was the Maker’s Chosen.  She had been sent by Him to stop Corypheus.  Then she had proven her words to be true by easily killing the arch darkspawn and his dragon.  She had seized control of the orb and used it to finish off the Tevintor Magister turned Darkspawn Who Wanted to Be God.  Then she sent Corypheus’ broken body back into the fade, breaking the orb in the process.  Solas had freaked out about the broken orb; he obviously cared more about the fate of the artifact than saving Thedas.  With the orb gone, he left.

The others had returned to Skyhold and received a hero's welcome, which included a huge party arranged by Josephine who worried more about everything being perfect than having fun.  With Corypheus gone, things were settling down.

It was then that Gaspard and his trail of Orlesian courtiers returned.  He first sought out Caitlyn.  She was in the gardens with Morrigan.  Moira was lying on a blanket in front of her, laughing as Kieren crawled around her.  He would stop and she would yammer, incoherently, at him, then laugh at whatever she had just said.  “It is good that they get along,” Morrigan observed. They had been discussing which of their children likely had the Old God’s soul in them.  Caitlyn was sure it was Kieren as he was the one who arrived, fully formed, in the Fade with her.  Their discussion ceased, however, when they say Gaspard approaching.

Gaspard nodded at Morrigan as he approached and greeted his intended with a soft kiss.  He studied Moira.  Her blonde hair was even curlier and her eyes were turning to a light brown.  “I have mentioned to you that I have a diplomatic meeting, more of a negotiation, in less than two months,” he ran a hand down Caitlyn’s back.

“You have,” she thought he was being awfully mysterious about it with her.

“I want you to come,” he informed her.  “I plan to present you to the Council of Heralds after the negotiations.  If you have been at my side through the negotiations, it will add even more clout to your position when I present you to the council and then to the rest of Orlais.”

“What about Moira?”  She continued to watch her daughter.

“You are bringing her, of course,” he wondered if that had ever been a question.  “She should be able to travel by then, as should you.”

She hoped there was not too much fanfare before the actual negotiations began.  The Orlesians could easily go past what was reasonable when it came to procedures, fanfare, entertainment, and the like.  “All right.  I will go.”

“Good,” he kissed the side of her head.  “I’ll be glad that you are there.”  He stood.  “There will be a ball during it.  Do you need my seamstresses to have something ready?”

She sighed.   “I’ll have Josephine and Leliana take care of it,” they would know her tastes better.  “I am not wearing one of those ridiculous masks.  I don’t own one and I do not want to own one.”

He leaned down and kissed her.  “Of course not, my dear.  That’s all right; it would just get in the way of the murderous looks I will look forward to seeing you flash at my enemies.”

“He knows you better than I thought,” Morrigan commented as he walked back into the castle.

Gaspard made his way to the rookery in search of Leliana.  He needed her help, along with that of Cassandra for what was coming next.  He was surprised to find the former Arl of Redcliffe’s wife there.

Isolde appeared to have been crying.  “I have to go to peace talks.”

“Why?” 

Isolde spun around.  The question had come from Gaspard, not Leliana.  Isolde gave a slight curtsy to Gaspard, for she was still an Orlesian by birth, but then turned back to Leliana.  “I think I have discovered the identity of the assassins.  The ones who were sending people back through time.  I still need more proof, though.  I think they are going to strike again at the talks.”

“How do they know where the talks are?” Leliana questioned.

“They don’t yet, but they will and they are in a position to move quickly when they find out,” Isolde was sure of this.  “I have an idea of how to catch them, but I must be there.”

Leliana nodded.  “Go see Commander Cullen and tell him everything that you can.  Coordinate with him.  We will stop these people once and for all.”

Gaspard admired the glint in Leliana’s eyes.  After Isolde left he turned back to her.  “You seem out for blood.”

“They killed one of my best friends… or at least tried to and took her away for ten years,” she amended.

“Speaking of that friend.  There is something I need from the left and right hands of the Divine.  As one of them are about to become the new Divine this will work out better than I thought,” He started to outline his plan for her.

Leliana quickly called for someone to get Cassandra.  This plan could either help cement peace or cause a war.


	28. Jader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has arrived in Jader

Caitlyn sat on a plush royal blue cushion, which was ensconced in a throne like chair that was set in a covered pavilion. Gaspard sat in a similar chair, as they watched a needless parade that preceded the set of dignitaries for the other country coming in for the summit.  Gaspard still hadn’t told her what country that was.  She was becoming worried about that.  She had gone over the itinerary for the day with Fiona as she dressed.  It would start with the parade, which would end with the other dignitaries joining them; she bristled that she had to wait until then to even find out who they were negotiating with.  Then there would be dancers and something called a mime.  That night there would be a ball.  She hoped that Josephine was in charge of the ball, Orlesian balls were known to end with poisonings or stabbings.

She was also not happy about Fiona playing the part of her maid.  It had been Fiona’s idea, though.  The moment that Caitlyn had said she was going to the summit in Jader, Fiona had announced that she was not taking her granddaughter into ‘that political hot mess’ without her.  She assumed Fiona meant the negotiations and not Jader. 

When Caitlyn then pointed out that the grand enchantress who had been behind the vote that led to the mage rebellion could not just pass herself off as a maid, Fiona had countered that mages were so feared that few people paid them undo attention and elves were overlooked.  So far she was right.  No one outside of the Inquisition realized that she was not what she seemed.  Fiona was presently at the back of the pavilion, cradling Moira in her arms. 

Isolde sat behind Caitlyn’s as an honored guest.  The Earl of Jader and his wife were beside Isolde.  Several other dignitaries filled in half of the pavilion.  The other half waited for their guests.

As the leaders of the other country approached, she stood, smoothing the deep blue of her skirts.  A standard bearer was in the lead, holding a flag that held a familiar red and gold herald.  “No,” the word escaped her lips.  She glanced over at Gaspard, how could he not have told her?  She composed her face as Alistair rode into view, a large entourage which included not only Anora and Eamon, but her own brother behind him.  She did not know whether to hit Gaspard or to hug him.  Here Alistair was before her.  The two shared dreams could not compare to physically coming face to face with him.  She had to stop herself from jumping over the small wall at the front of the pavilion and throwing herself at him.

Alistair maneuvered his horse slowly to the front of the pavilion; his eyes were glued not to Gaspard, but to the woman beside him.  He had no idea that _she_ would be here.  Caitlyn’s hair was curling freely down her back and she wore a simple deep blue A-line dress with a white bodice.  The bodice had matching blue flowers embroidered on it.   She wore the colors of Highever, not of the Orlesian royal family, yet it was then that it struck him who she planned to marry.

However, for this new knowledge, Alistair’s thoughts did not immediately go to any impending nuptials.  Instead, he felt not just his heart respond to seeing her in the flesh, but his whole soul.  It was as if the sun had just returned to Thedas.  He had been living with just the moonlight since her apparent death more than ten years before.  He had become used to the moonlight and let the warmth and radiance of the sun become but a memory.  Then the Maker had returned that bright globe to Thedas and like the fool that others had called him, he had continued to exist under merely the glow of the moon.  Now he found himself under the sun’s bright, warm glow and he did not know how he could bring himself to return to a life of darkness, with the moon’s meager gleam.  He silently thanked the Maker for returning the brightness to Thedas.  All he wanted to do was touch her, to know that she was real, but he dared not in front of such a large audience.  “I would like to thank the Earl of Jader for hosting this summit,” he bowed lightly, yet his eyes never left Caitlyn.  “And hope that our meetings are productive, Gaspard.”

“As do I, King Alistair,” Gaspard glanced between the rival king and his intended bride whose gazes had become glued to each other.  Then he sat down, the rest of the pavilion followed suit.

Soon Alistair found himself watching a procession of dance troops, who had been brought in for entertainment.  They were pretty good.  The dance was telling the story of Aveline, the first female knight of Orlais.  He kept glancing over at Caitlyn and found her returning his gaze a few times.  He wanted to get her alone, but didn’t know how.  To the Abyss with duty and expectations, he wasn’t giving up his sunlight.

He tried to turn his attention back to his own party.  “I heard that she named her baby Moira,” Eamon was saying to Anora.  “Does she really think the Orlesians will be happy with someone who was named after the Rebel Queen living in their palaces?  Gaspard’s grandfather put her head on a pike outside of his castle.”

Who were they talking about?  Had one of the Orlesian nobles named their daughter after his grandmother?  He had never been one on Theirin genealogy, but he was… well … he was kind of touched.

After the dancers, a strange creature came on.  Alistair supposed that it was a human, but his face was painted white.  He said nothing and was fighting against a non-existent wind.  At one point, he found an invisible rope to grab on to.  Did people really find this entertaining?  He looked over to where Caitlyn sat.  She was gone.  Where had she gone?  Why did she get to not have to watch this crime against Thedas?  He closed his eyes and wondered if the ball would be as horrible as the debacle before him.


	29. Jader-The Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a Ball; people dance. The heads of Orlais and Ferelden dance.  
> Warning NSFW: Sexual content.

      Caitlyn watched as a petite blonde elf, whom Gaspard had sent to her, arraigned her hair so that it swept up, then let some of her curls cascade back down.  She then began pinning sapphires into Caitlyn’s hair.  The sapphires matched the low cut bodice and top skirt of her ball gown.  The top skirt swept back to reveal white underneath.  The sapphire necklace that she wore set off the jewels in her hair.

“      Did you have to use Moira to get out of watching that mime?” Fiona watched as the maid put the finishing touches on Caitlyn’s hair. 

       Caitlyn smiled.  She could see Fiona in the mirror’s reflection.  She cradled Moira who was in the white over blue dress that Dorian had bought for her.  “She looked hungry.”

      “She was sound asleep,” Fiona countered.

       “Well… I don’t want my daughter exposed to mimes,” Caitlyn said lamely.  “I think I shall get Gaspard to outlaw them as soon as we marry.”

       “Good luck with that,” Fiona murmured.  She may be Orlesian by birth, but she agreed the things were creepy; those and harlequins. 

                When the maid had finished, Caitlyn turned around.  “How do I look?”

                “Like a queen,” Fiona kissed her cheek.  “The queen of which country remains to be seen.  I saw the way you and my son were looking at each other.  I threw away a chance for love and a family when I was young.  Don’t do the same, go fight for it.”

                “What about Anora?” Caitlyn questioned.

                “You’ll think of something,” Fiona didn’t point out that Caitlyn had not argued about Gaspard or how Alistair felt.  “You ended a Blight in less than a year.  You can take on that evil creature.”  She laid a gentle hand on Caitlyn’s cheek.  “Now go have fun.  I will come and get you when Moira is hungry.”

                Caitlyn placed a soft kiss on her daughter’s head and then made her way to the ballroom.  The castle at Jader was not a large palace and the main hall doubled as the ballroom.  Still, Gaspard was waiting for her outside the doors.  He held out his arm.  “You look lovely tonight, my dear.  Shall we go impress Ferelden?”

                “Let’s,” she let him leader her in.  As they entered the room, it grew quieter.  She scanned the room quickly.  Fergus was there, but Alfstanna was not.  She supposed that her sister-in-law had stayed behind with the children.  Fergus was also dressed in blue and white.  It appeared that the Couslands were determined to spout their family colors to the Orlesians, marking them as the ruling members of Highever.     

                The Inquisition might only be there to make sure the talks went smoothly, but they were apparently there in force.  Josephina and Leliana had placed themselves strategically, both wearing the formal red and gold, with blue sashes.  Cullen was also there, wearing a similar uniform.  He was surrounded by Orlesians, but they were not getting too close.  Selina, wearing a red and gold dress that complimented her advisor’s uniforms, had her arm through his.  She was using her placement to move herself between her love and anyone who tried to actually touch him.  With the Orlesians this was an actual problem.  Caitlyn smiled at her friend who was actively protecting her man from Orlesian pariahs.

                She saw a few more Ferelden dignitaries before her eyes landed on Alistair.  He and Anora must have beaten Gaspard and herself to the room.  Anora had a possessive hand on his arm, but was leaning a little too closely to Eamon, giving him a full view of what little showed of her small breasts.  She wore a black and gold dress that was reminiscent of a surcoat.  The side panels were in gold, while the rest was black.  Caitlyn noticed that Alistair was watching her.  She gave him a half smile, wishing she could go to him, but it still did not seem like the right time.

                She could over here part of the conversation he was having, though.  “Mimes are not that bad,” Eamon was insisting.  “It would be impolitic to outlaw them from Ferelden.”

                “How can you say that?” Alistair questioned.  “They are … well… I don’t know how to describe something so unnatural and I had a Templar education.  It is that horrid.”

                She suffered through meeting several nobles who seemed to be able to say almost nothing, but use plenty of words to do so.  When the dancing started, Gaspard took her to the middle of the room and pulled her gently into his arms.  She noticed that Alistair did the same with Anora.

                “How do you like the ball so far, my dear?” Gaspard questioned.

                “Its fine,” she didn’t know what else to say about it.  Her attention was distracted when she noticed Alistair step on Anora’s foot.

                “Watch it,” Anora hissed.  “You are so clumsy.”

                Caitlyn knew Alistair was far from clumsy.  He was a disciplined warrior.  She watched the other couple and noticed that Anora kept trying to lead.

                “Perhaps it is my partner,” He countered back through clinched teeth.  His eyes met Caitlyn’s; he seemed to be trying to speak to her them.

                “What is she doing here?” Anora’s voice was low and filled with hatred.

                Caitlyn followed the other woman’s gaze and saw Isolde walk in.  She was accompanied by Teagan who was looking harried.

                “She is probably just visiting relatives again,” Alistair dismissed Isolde’s presence.  As a former arlessa, she would have been granted an invitation to this ball.  “She just dragged Teagan here as an escort.”

                “She is probably sleeping with him,” Anora sneered.  “Her own husband’s brother.”

                “Like you’re sleeping with her husband?” Alistair countered.

                Anora stopped dancing for a couple of seconds and glared at her husband.  If they were alone, she probably would have slapped him.  “I would do no such thing.”  She sniffed and put back on her façade.

                “It looks like the Fereldens could use some lessons on subtlety, don’t you agree dearest,” Gaspard commented to her.  When the song ended, he loosened his grip.  Then he shocked Caitlyn when he walked over to the Ferelden royal couple.  He grabbed Anora’s hand and spun her towards him.  “Let’s dance.”

                Alistair hesitated a second, then enthusiastically pulled Caitlyn to him. She felt her heart beat pick up pace.  She had missed the feel of his arms around her.  “Let’s see if I can avoid stepping on your pretty toes.”

                “It is just as I taught you,” she reminded him.  “This is your sword,” he put pressure on his right hand.  “And my waist is your shield.”

                Nearby Gaspard started laughing.  Glancing over Caitlyn noticed that Anora looked furious.

                They danced in silence for a minute.  Then they both tried speaking at once.  She needed to tell him about their child.  The child who was close by, but he plowed on ahead.  “I have missed you terribly.”

                “Then why didn’t you come see me?”  She didn’t want to argue now, but she had to know.

                “Because I am the fool that Morrigan claims me to be,” he declared.  He changed his step a little and she realized he was leading her somewhere.  “You need to know, though, that I have never lied to you.  I said ‘always’ and it is true.”

                She didn’t know what say.  Yes, she did.  She was about to blurt out that she loved him too and had given birth to his daughter, when she realized that they were alone on one of the balconies.  How had he managed that?  She soon found herself with one of the railings pressed against her back.

                Alistair placed a hand on her cheek.  “I knew that if I just touched you, any touch, I wouldn’t be able to stop.  I was right.”  He slid the hand to the back of her head and wound the other arm around her back.  “I don’t plan to stop either,” his mouth claimed hers.

                Caitlyn stood still for about two seconds, in shock.  Then she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer.  Her very being was singing in rejoicement, finally she was home.

                When they finally came up for breath Alistair smiled.  “That was …” He cut himself off and crushed his lips back to hers.  At first the kiss was hard, when it gentled a bit his lips began to coax hers open so his tongue could slide back in to explore.  Her tongue slid sinuously up to greet his.

                As they finally came back up for breath again, he laid his forehead against hers.  “Maker’s breath, I do love you.  I have never stopped loving you and never will.”

                “I love you, too,” she placed her hand on his cheek to make sure that he was real, that she was in his arms again at last.  “I am proof that death cannot stop true love.”

                He chuckled.  “Well, don’t try proving it again.”  He buried his face in her cheek.  “I have had the light in my life taken away once.  I could not bear for it to happen again.  I would have to take Corypheus’ example and storm the Black City in search of the Maker so I can demand that he give you back.”

                She chuckled and just held on to him.  She did not want to let go.  She wasn’t sure how long they were on the balcony, twined in each other’s arms, but they managed to scandalize a couple of Orlesians who had come out seeking privacy.  She knew then that they should return to the ball, but could not bring herself to tear away from Alistair’s embrace. 

                Then Leliana came out.  “Unless you plan to kidnap Caitlyn and carry her over the balcony, I would expect you two to come back in before you manage to scandalize two countries and possibly cause a war.  You have both been noticed and there were a pair of scandalized counts that I encountered.” 

                Alistair placed a quick, soft kiss on Caitlyn’s lips.  “Save me a dance for later?”

                “I will try.”  She followed Leliana in, but quickly noticed that Fiona had come in with a fretting Moira in her arms.  “Duty calls.”

                “You have to tell me everything that happened on that balcony,” Leliana demanded.

                “As soon as I come back,” Caitlyn promised.

 

 

                Alistair waited a few minutes after Caitlyn left his side to walk back inside.  He needed to come up with a plan.  He was not sure if the first thing he needed to do was to do something about Anora and Eamon, who had been dead set against Alistair even seeing Caitlyn again, or do something about Gaspard, he had to convince Caitlyn not to marry the emperor.  He supposed he could have Anora killed.  No, he was not the type to do so.  He may not love her and she might be caboodling his advisor, but he couldn’t just kill her.

                As he stepped inside the hall, he scanned quickly for Caitlyn.  She seemed to have disappeared.  He did notice Eamon and Anora dancing together.  The two were talking in hushed whispers, but whatever they were saying seemed urgent.

                He then spotted Fergus walking towards him.  He needed to talk to the teryn.  “Your majesty,” Fergus reached his side.  “Have you seen my sister?  She seems to have disappeared after your dance together.”

                “I saw her a few minutes ago, but I don’t see her now,” Alistair scanned the room again.  “She was with Leliana.”

                “I’m sure she will be back soon,” Fergus decided that Moira must be hungry and Caitlyn had left temporarily to take care of her daughter.

                “Does she love him?” Alistair blurted out.  The way Caitlyn had reacted to being in his arms again led him to believe that she could not love another, but he could not squelch the fear that she did.  He had to convince her not to marry Gaspard.

                “Who?”  Fergus looked around trying to figure out what Alistair was talking about.  He spied one couple on the dance floor.  “Eamon and Anora?  No, I think she is just trying to control him.”

                Did his entire kingdom know about those two?  “No, Caitlyn.  Does she love Gaspard?”

                “No,” Fergus studied his king.  Was the handsome prince, now king he supposed, going to try and stop his princess, or queen, from marrying the evil emperor?  Lyn would be so pleased.  “She loves you.  Gaspard on the other hand, does seem to be in love, so tread carefully.  No, with you, go boldly we’ll let the banns deal with the fall out.”

                “Really?”  Did the head of his kingdom’s second highest ranking family just give him the o.k. to start a war?  “Why didn’t I make you my advisor instead of Eamon?”

                “We all make bad choices sometimes,” Fergus shrugged.  “As her older brother, I give you two my blessing.  Go win her back from Gaspard.”

                As Fergus moved away, Alistair noticed Anora angrily stalking towards him.  He straitened his back, preparing for a confrontation, when Isolde intercepted the other woman.  He could only make out part of what was being said, but the women were in a full argument.  He heard Isolde call Anora an overly ambitious shrew.  Anora responded by calling Isolde an uptight Orlesian strumpet, then began insulting Isolde’s country.  Great.  He wouldn’t have to worry about starting a war; Anora would do that for him.  He wondered if he could have the Divine and bannorn nullify his marriage on those grounds.

                He moved towards Leliana, hoping she could direct him towards Caitlyn, when he was intercepted by Eamon.  “Shouldn’t you be breaking up that fight?” Alistair questioned.

                “I need to talk to you about the fact that the Hero of Ferelden was at Gaspard’s side when we arrived,” Eamon seemed to think that was more important than the spectacle that Isolde and Anora were causing.  “He also entered the ball with her and danced the first dance with her.  I fear he is planning to announce a formal betrothal with her soon.”

                “Oh, he is,” How did Eamon not know that?

                “You knew?  Your majesty we must stop it.  We cannot allow the Hero of _Ferelden_ to marry an _Orlesian_ ,” Eamon insisted.  “It would be a terrible blow to our nation’s pride.”

                “So you care about her title, not if she is happy,” Alistair clarified.

                “Of course,” Eamon responded.  “She is a symbol to our people.  I do not believe that Fergus Cousland agreed to this.”

                Had Eamon always been this selfish?  Alistair knew he could often put politics over the personal needs of others, including his own, that is how he had ended up with a regrettable marriage.  He hoped he would never be the type to put politics over the needs of those he loved, though.  “All I care about is whether she is happy.  If she chooses Gaspard, there is nothing we can do about it.  She does not even like being called the Hero of Ferelden.  She deserves happiness and I am going to see that she gets it.”  He didn’t add that he was going to do his best to see that she got it with him.  “You want Isolde to be happy don’t you?”  He realized that perhaps that was not what Eamon wanted.  He knew that he wasn’t happy and Eamon was part of the reason why.

                “What of Moira?” Eamon demanded.  He did not want to address the other part of the question.  Did he want Isolde to be happy?  Yes, he did.  He loved the woman.  Was she unhappy?  She lived in Redcliffe, where she continued to reign over their old castle.  He had assumed that she was.

                “Who is Moira?”  Why did that name keep coming up?  He only knew of one Moira.  “Do you mean my grandmother?  Yes, Gaspard’s grandfather did have her killed, but I don’t know if I can hold Gaspard personally responsible for that.”

                “Well…” Eamon seemed to be trying to collect his thoughts.  He rather the king not know about his child, she would put a crimp in Eamon's plans.  He had actively tried to keep Alistair from finding out, he hadn't realized that he succeeded.

                “There you are, your highness,” a thick Orlesian accent interrupted them, as Duke Germain rushed over.  “I wanted to talk to you about the activities over the next few days.  Gaspard would like to add a hunt.”

                “A hunt?”  What was it with Orlesians and hunting?  “Very well.  We can have a hunt.  Do I have to actually go on it?”

                “I am afraid so, your majesty,” Germain sighed; Fereldens.  “Lady Cousland has also asked that the _E’cole D’interpretes_ be cancelled and replaced with a joust.”

                “What is the _E’cole D’interpretes_?” Alistair had almost been too afraid to ask.  It could not be anything worse that that mime he had been forced to watch earlier.  Then again, he liked a good joust.

                “They are a performance group,” Germain explained.  “They are famed for their mimes, who work in a large group together to entertain us.”

                “There is a group of mimes?”  Sweet Maker, Orlais was more evil than he had realized.

                “Yes, but it seems that Lady Cousland does not like such things,” Germain explained.  “While many may not agree with her assessment of our performers, I personally love a good joust and we do have enough knight and chevaliers on hand for one.”

                He needed to find Caitlyn and kiss her for this alone.  “Agreed.”

                “Very good, I will let Gaspard know that he can have Count Devertit speak with Madame Josephine about the changes in schedule,” Germain chuckled.  “The Inquisition seems most uptight about keeping everything flowing just so during these talks.”

                When Germain finally left, Isolde approached Alistair.  “May I speak with you in private, your highness?”

                “How private?”  He didn’t know if their going off together would look good.  Then again, she had just had a very public tiff with the queen.  Perhaps, they did need to speak.

                “Follow me,” she led him out of the hall and towards the guest rooms.  “I know that we have not always gotten along.  I was jealous of the rumors that placed you as Eamon’s bastard.  I know now they were unfounded, even if my hesitation to truly trust Eamon was not.  That should be resolved soon, though.”

                “You were not the best of step-mothers,” he agreed.  "You were one of the worst that I have ever heard of."  Hell, she had treated him horribly, before she had Eamon ship him off to the chantry to train as a Templar.

                “Just know that those who took the woman you love from you took the one thing I love most in the world, too,” she declared.  “For this reason alone, I am your friend and ally.”

                Caitlyn stepped out of the guest quarters.  “Isolde, you wanted to … Alistair.”  She couldn’t help the foolish grin that spread across her face.

                “Have fun, you two,” Isolde turned back to the hall.

                “What were you doing back here?” Alistair questioned.  “Never mind,” he grabbed her and dragged her back into the guest quarters.

                She gasped in shock as he gently shoved her against the wall, covered her body with his, and crushed his mouth down ono hers.  She grasped at his shoulders as he kept her back pressed against the cold brick, his hands on either side of her head.  He continued to assault her mouth with his own as he rubbed against her, his arousal evident against her stomach.  Maker she wanted this, she wanted him.  She wound her arms around his neck and used the friction between them to haul herself up.

                His own arms finally snaked around her to hold her even closer as he pressed fevered kisses against her neck.  “Where is your room?”

                She turned to look as his mouth roamed lower.  She cupped the back of his head, encouraging him as she turned her own head to look.  “Its three more doors down on the left.”

                He pulled back a little, but only so he could move his arms under her legs.  He then carried her into her room.  She reached down to open the door for him.  Once he was passed the threshold, he kicked it back shut. Once he set her on her feet, he turned her so he could undo the lacings on her dress.  Then took time kissing each inch of skin he exposed.  Were her breasts larger than he remembered?  What were the new markings around her stomach?  Was that a new scar on her collar bone?  When she was bare, he laid her down on the bed and removed his own clothing.

                As he joined her, Caitlyn guided him down on the bed and began an exploration of her own.  “What is this?” She asked as she kissed a scar on the right side of his ribcage.

                “It was from fighting rebels in Amaranthine,” he cupped the back of her head as she paid the scar extra attention, then continued to explore.  It was some time before he flipped her on her back so he could join their bodies together, taking his time and setting a sweet gentle rhythm.  That may have taken its time, but it was still soon for him when they had both reached the climax and came back to the world together.  He almost regretted taking the cure for the taint.  Grey Warden stamina may have served him well.  Still, as she lay cradled on top of him, with his arms around her, he knew that this must be what it was like to be at the Maker’s side and he was not willing to ever let anyone take her from him again.

                Alistair realized that they most have fallen asleep when a gentle knocking woke him up.  Whoever was disturbing them did not wait for an invitation before walking in.  The one person he was not expecting was Grand Enchanter Fiona.  Was she carrying a baby in her arms?  It was and it was fussing.

                Caitlyn stirred beside him.  “I’m sorry, Fiona, I should have come and gotten her for the night.  I was… distracted and fell asleep.”

                “I see that,” Fiona chuckled and laid the infant in Caitlyn’s arms.

                What was going on here?  Why did Fiona have a baby?  Wait, why was Caitlyn now putting the baby to her breast and feeding it?  “What is going on?”

                “Have you still not told him?” Fiona admonished.  “It took me less time to tell Maric.”

                “Sure, but you still haven’t told your child,” Caitlyn glanced significantly at Alistair. 

                “Thant can wait for later,” Fiona moved back out of the room.  “I think you need to tell him about Moira first.”

                So _this_ was Moira.  “Care to tell me what is going on, my love?”  Had she had a baby with another man?  How could she?

                “I believe that it is obvious that I have had a baby.  I thought you knew by now.  Everyone else in Thedas does,” she smoothed Moira’s dark blonde curls as the baby suckled.  The baby looked up at her with those eyes that were turning from blue to light brown.  “Daddy can be dense sometimes can’t he?”

                “Daddy?”  Alistair felt his anger draining.  Had she just referred to him as ‘daddy’?  He was a daddy?

                “She is yours,” Caitlyn looked over at him.  “I was pregnant when I fought the arch demon.  While in the Fade her Theirin blood cured me of the taint.  We were both completely taint free when Selina and Hawke rescued me.”

                “Theirin blood?” He repeated.  “If the cure was already in my blood, then how did Fiona become cured?  The only way that is possible is if…”

                “She’s your mother,” Caitlyn confirmed.  “She is going to kill me for telling you.”

                “My mother?  No, my mother was a maid in Redcliffe,” he protested.

                “According to who?”  She challenged.  “Eamon knew.  Of course, so did Maric and Duncan.”

                There was only one of those three whom he could still rail against.  Then he realized that Eamon had not just lied to him about his mother, he recalled his question about Moira.  He knew about Alistair’s daughter, too.  While he could yell at Caitlyn for not telling him, he had to admit that he had not seen her face to face until today and she had tried to tell him something during their shared dreams, but they had kept fighting.  What else was his chief advisor hiding?  “Fergus was right.  I need a new advisor.”

                Caitlyn leaned over and kissed his cheek.  “That you do.  We can take care of it when we return to Denerim.”

                Did she just say we?  A grin spread across his face.  Perhaps she wouldn’t be too upset when he demanded that she do exactly that; leave and return to Denerim with him.  He was not going to let her go again.  He was distracted when she went to place Moira in a cradle that he had not noticed on the other side of the bed.  “What are you doing?”

                “I am putting our daughter down,” she answered. 

                “No you aren’t,” he gently took the baby from her.  “You are going to hand her over.”   He looked down at the beautiful little face and touched a finger to one of her rounded cheeks.  “Hello, my little love.  I’m your daddy.”  The baby grinned and gurgled up at him.  “Was mommy trying to make you go to sleep already?”

                “Fine, you get to entertain her when she wakes in the middle of the night and wants to play,” Caitlyn grumbled.

                “Don’t listen to her,” Alistair continued to address his baby.  “She is being a fuss bucket.  Yes, she is,” he lifted her up so he could kill one of her cheeks.  She continued to babble back to him.  “I’m here to steal you two back.”

                He waited and sure enough, Moira babbled back at him.

                “Yes, I am.  I thought I was here for peace talks, but I am willing to go to war to rather than let anyone else have you and your mommy.  I was a terrible fool.”

                Caitlyn couldn’t hide her smile.  “Her Aunty Morrigan tells her that about you all of the time.”

                “In this case, she was right,” he leaned over and kissed Caitlyn.  “I’m sorry that I was.”

                “She also said that I could never marry Gaspard, because I love you too much,” she admitted.

                Alistair didn’t know what to say to that.  He grinned and kissed his love again.  Then he turned his attention back to Moira.  “When I get you back home, I’m going to get you your own mabari puppy and a horse.  I will even let you pick out which horse you want.”

                “We might want to wait until she is older,” Caitlyn laid back in the bed.

                “Nonsense, don’t listen to mommy.  I will get you whatever you want.”  He would too.  He had waited so long for this little miracle.  He was going to have to have an even bigger chantry built in Denerim to thank the Maker for not only returning Caitlyn to him, but for somehow sparing the child he had yearned for for so long.

                “Put her in her cradle when you two are done chatting,” Caitlyn murmured as she drifted off to sleep.

 

 

                Isolde approached Gaspard.  He seemed to be deep into conversation with Bann Loren.  When the bann saw her, he nodded to her.  “I will see you tomorrow, your imperial highness.”

                “I don’t trust him,” Isolde watched the bann move off.  “His loyalty is as reliable as a raft made from drakestone on the Waking Sea.”

                “True,” Gaspard conceded.  “In this case, though, it behooves him to stick with us.  Is everything in place?”

                “Step one is done,” she confirmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Comments are encouraged.


	30. Jader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a few revelations.

Alistair woke up to singing.  He opened his eyes to see the love of his life singing to their baby.  Caitlyn was looking down at Moira, not even paying attention to him.  As he woke up, he could make out the words that she was singing.

                _Oh cruel is the weather_

_Over storms over Highever_

_And rages over the grave o’ Cousland_

_Cruel was the bann who raped our land_

_And murdered the house of Cousland_

_They came under the guise of a friend_

_But with murder on their mind_

_The soldiers who late did pretend_

_Had orders that Arl How had signed_

_Put all to the sword_

_These five words underlined_

_And leave none alive called_

_Cousland_

_Oh cruel is the weather_

_That storms over Highever_

_And rages over the grave o’ Cousland_

_Cruel was the bann who raped our land_

_And murdered the house of Cousland_

_They came in the night_

_While our men were all away_

_The murdering soldiers o’ Howes_

_Through the night did invade_

_Like murdering wyvern_

_Among helpless babes_

_They butchered the house of_

_Cousland_

She began again on the chorus.  “What are you singing to my daughter?” Alistair sat up a little to see the precious baby in question slowly falling back to sleep.

                “Varric wrote it for me,” she continued to gently rock Moira.  “He wrote an entire book of lullabies and fairy tales for Moira.”

                “Varric Tetris?  The dwarf who wrote _Hard Time in Hightown_?”  He had heard rumors that the author was among the Inquisitor’s inner circle.  He figured Caitlyn would know him.

                “That is him,” she thought Moira might have fallen back asleep.

                “What else did he write?”  A pleasant thought crossed his mind.  “Is there one about killing Loghain?”

                “Of course, Varric thought that it was very important to write about everything that happened to me during the Blight,” she thought back to the lyrics and tune of that song.

 

                _They thought him a hero_

_That dark, sinister man_

_Yet his heart his a darkness_

_One not seen in his land_

                As she sang she leaned over to place Moira, who was sleeping peacefully back in her cradle.

                “Hey, I want to play with my daughter,” Alistair protested.

                Caitlyn slowly hooked one knee under his hip and used it to lazily slide on top of him.  “Why don’t you play with her mother instead?” She planted a heated kiss on his mouth.  He was more than happy to oblige her.

                “How do you want to handle Gaspard?”  He asked later as they dressed.  He had sent a servant to his quarters to fetch a change of clothes.  If all of Jader did not already know where he had spent the night before, they would now.  He could easily visualize the servant running to the kitchen to tell his compatriots that the King of Ferelden had spent the night with The Hero of Ferelden.  He had once thought that gossip moved quickly through a camp, but learned that it travelled even more impressively through a castle’s kitchen.  “I could confront him with you or I could talk to him alone.”

                “I can talk to him alone, I will not take the coward’s way out and let you tell him that I am running off to Denerim with you.”  She thought about the matter for a bit.  “I will tell him as soon as I see him.”

                “Good,” he pulled her in for a quick kiss.  “Because I won’t let him have my family.”  He grinned at that.  “The woman I love and I have started a family.”

                “You get to tell Anora,” she kissed his cheek.  “That will be worse.”

                “First I need to talk to Fergus about what to do about her,” he sighed.  Then suddenly he gripped her shoulders.  “I want you to know that I have not touched her in years.  Even when I did for the first couple of years of marriage, it was rare … and I… well … I kept calling her by your name.”

                “That would be a blow to that undue pride of hers,” Caitlyn leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips.  “I guess it is time to face the outside world.”

                “Find me after you talk to Gaspard,” he picked up his pants from the night before and transferred the rune stone that she had given him from the pockets of his pants to the ones that he was now wearing.  She smiled as she saw it, but didn’t say anything.

 

 

                Alistair was looking for Fergus when a blonde elven servant intercepted him.  “Emperor Gaspard sent me to find you.  He wants to talk to you in private.”

                “Do you know why?” Alistair wondered if Caitlyn had already spoken with him and now Gaspard wanted to challenge him to a duel.  He would do it, he would face the other ruler one on one for her.

                “He merely said it was private,” she curtsied a little, and then glanced at another servant.

                “Was Lady Cousland with him?”  He hoped Gaspard hadn’t tried hurting her.  Of course if he tried, she would make sure he could no longer stand.  She was something else.  Maker, he was a lucky man.

                “Is there a reason she would be right now?” The servant queried.

                “Just take me to him,” Alistair insisted.  He almost missed when the other servant handed a coin to her and shook his head.

                Gaspard was not alone when Alistair walked in.  Sitting at a desk behind him was Leliana and Cassandra, who had been elected as the new Divine after Corypheus’ defeat.  What were they doing there?  “What is going on?” He posed the question to Leliana, the one person in the room that he trusted most.

                “How was your night last night?” Gaspard questioned.  “You left the ball early, was there some pressing matter that you needed to take care of?  Like pressing my intended to a flat surface?”

                “Look,” Alistair turned on Gaspard.  He better not say anything about Caitlyn.  “I was an idiot before; I should have run to her side the moment I learned that she had returned to Thedas.  I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just let you have the woman I love… or our daughter for that matter.”

                “Good, if you did, I might declare war on Ferelden on principle,” he indicated Leliana and Cassandra.  “So could you tell the new Divine and the Left Hand of the previous Divine why you ever thought to violate a verbal contract made before your own bannorn?”

                What was he talking about?  “What do you mean?”

                He opened the door and spoke to someone outside.  “Bring them in.”

                Isolde walked in, leading Bann Loren and Teagan.  “What is going on?” Teagan was demanding to know.

                “Gentlemen,” Leliana addressed them.  “During the Landsmeet where Loghain was deposed and Alistair made king, was his future queen established?”

                Teagan was still confused.  “Caitlyn declared that Alistair would be king and that she would rule at his side.”

                “What was his reaction?”  She questioned.

                “He was all for it,” Loren added.

                She held up a paper.  “I have a written statement from the Bann of Waking Sea saying the same thing.  I will add myself as an additional witness.” 

                The door opened and Caitlyn walked in, carrying Moira.  She looked around the room, and then focused on Alistair.  “What is going on?”

                “I have no idea,” he admitted.  “I seem to have done something to upset the Chantry.”

Leliana turned to Cassandra.  “Divine Victoria.”

                Cassandra held up another piece of paper.  “The declarations at that Landsmeet would represent a binding contract.  We have found that Lady Cousland’s apparent death did not free the king from his contract to marry her, as she was not truly dead as she had not yet returned to the Maker’s side.  Therefore, any subsequent marriages to anyone but the woman he declared to the bannorn to be his future queen are null and void and any children resulting from such a union are henceforth declared bastards.”

                “Um,” Alistair wasn’t sure what was happening, he didn’t have any children with Anora.  “All right, I will stand by the Divine’s decree.”

                Caitlyn broke with protocol; she handed Moira to Alistair and then ran around the desk and hugged Leliana and Cassandra.  “Thank you.”

                “Gaspard happened to remind us of this violation of the law,” Leliana informed him.  “I’m ashamed that I had not realized it.”

                “Really?”  She looked over at Gaspard.  She kissed him softly on the cheek.  “I was trying to figure out how to tell you that I was going to hurt you and here you were doing this for me.”

                “You’re worth it,” he hugged her gently.

                Cassandra continued on.  “I have drawn up a second copy of the declaration, which is being delivered to Anora now.”

                “I believe our first round of peace talks are scheduled in a few hours and then we have a hunt planned,” Gaspard reminded them.  “I shall, therefor, have my horse prepared and then dress for the hunt.”  He opened the door.  Alistair and Caitlyn were just behind him.

                They were all shocked as Krem led Bull’s Chargers towards the room.  Each one carried a bound soldier.  “I’m sorry, could we need to use this room, please.  We also need to change into these ‘soldiers’ ill made garments.”

                Alistair wondered if he was having the most confusing day that he would ever have.  “What is going on?”

                “Oh, these guys?”  Bull approached, Isolde was behind him.  “They are a mercenary group who was hired to assassinate Cait.  We are going to dress in their clothes.  Then Dalish here is going to send a signal, with her bow, that the job is done.”

                “How is your elven archer planning to send a burst of flame into the sky with only a bow?” one of the merchants snarled.

                “Oh, she’s good,” Bull assured him, as Grim placed a gag around the merchant’s mouth.  “I would also like you all to remain close by.  I know you want to see who is behind these attacks, too.  Caitlyn, do you mind lying on the floor out there and acting as if you aredead?”

                “This is going to be fun,” she giggled.

                “Just be careful,” Alistair warned.

                After the Chargers had finished changing, they took Caitlyn out into the hall.  She lay on the stone floor and posed.  Dalish went outside and sent up the flare. They only had to wait until two figures sauntered into the hall.

                “Finally,” Anora crowed.  “This time she had better stay dead.  I still cannot believe that the Divine just tried to annul my marriage.  I’m done with that bitch getting in my way.”

                Anora, Caitlyn thought as she lay on the stones, it figured.  She shouldn’t be surprised that the woman would resort to using forbidden magic and a series of murders to become queen.  She was more shocked at Anora’s companion.  “I am delighted to once again return to ruin your plans,” Caitlyn sprung off of the ground. 

                “No, she can’t do this again!” Anora shrieked.  Eamon who had been standing beside her drew out his sword.

                “I wouldn’t,” Cullen appeared from a nearby alcove, his sword against Eamon’s neck.

                Caitlyn was surprised as Selina and her entire inner circle came out of various hiding spots.  “You are all here?”

                “Did we get them?” Sera grinned excitedly.

                “I have been watching these two since I first went to Denerim after the attempt on your life in Redcliffe,” Isolde revealed as she stepped into the hall.  “Leliana’s spy network has been invaluable.”  She turned on her husband.  “I didn’t want to believe that you were a part of this.  Why?”

                “Alistair would listen to Caitlyn over me,” Eamon’s eyes shot daggers at Caitlyn.  “I don’t remember everything, but have left myself notes.  It didn’t matter what I told him, one word from her and he would follow her lead instead of mine.  I had raised that royal brat for nothing.  Then one of the mages from Ferelden’s former Circle of Magi had come to me and told me of the rifts with time distortion properties around Redcliffe.  We used that to begin fixing things to increase my power and make the world into what it should be.  I was the chief advisor and the kingdom should be run how I want it to be.”

                “Why did you have Connor killed?” Isolde hissed.  “He is your own son.”

                “Connor? I wouldn’t have him killed,” Eamon protested.  “I loved Connor.”

                “He came back with Caitlyn,” Isolde finally told him.  “You obviously care so little for him that you did not even know that he was back.”

                “Why should he care?” Anora looked condescendingly at Isolde.  “He is probably Teagan’s anyway.  Not that I could convince him of that, so I decided to remove him as a hindrance to our relationship.”

                “You had Connor killed?” Eamon was shocked.

                “Eamon is Connor’s father,” Isolde got in Anora’s face.  “I would never have betrayed him if he had not done so to me first.”

                “Nor would I,” Teagan finally spoke up from where he stood near Leliana and Cassandra.  The very thought that someone would believe he would do that to his brother shocked him.  What else shocked him was the need for vengeance swelling in him.  He had been glad that his nephew returned to life, but to think that Eamon would sleep with the woman responsible for killing Connor and would kill Alistair’s wife, whom he also thought of as his nephew as he was the son of their sister’s husband, sickened him.

                Anora addressed Eamon.  “You had already killed a queen and removed another child from existence, why should I stop there?”

                “This is for Connor,” Isolde punched Anora.  The former queen weaved on her feet for a second, then slid to the floor unconscious.          

                Gaspard came out into the hall.  “I want to postpone the hunt until tomorrow and behead these two today instead. That will be entertaining.”

                “They have to have a trial first,” Alistair protested.

                “They committed regicide,” Gaspard pointed out.  “And you forget one thing.  This. Is. Orlais.”

               

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first song is done to The Massacre of Glencoe and two lines are a total rip off from that ballad.  
> The second song that Caitlyn begins to sing is totally made up.  
> Yes, the assassins were rather obvious, don't shoot me for it.


	31. Jader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are wrapped up

During the first round of peace talks, there had been some debate over what to do with the prisoners. Josephine intervened and negotiated for the prisoners to be tried by the Inquisition, who were the ones who had captured them after all. Gaspard, grudgingly, agreed, but he insisted that since the Inquisitor was in residence, Selina would try them immediately. He had already rescheduled the hunt and really wanted to watch the treasonous pair who had left bodies and heartache in their path lose their head. Plus, he just enjoyed beheadings.

  
The judging was easy. Not only had the couple been caught red handed, rather than present a united force or try to plead for their lives, they turned on each other. Eamon yelled at Anora for going after his son. He even tried to claim that the entire thing had been Anora’s idea. Anora countered that he and Caitlyn had originally had her executed and changing events so Caitlyn died is how she even came back from the dead. Anora made things even worse on herself by calling Selina ‘a dirty mage’ and declaring that the Inquisition could not try her as she was the Queen of Ferelden.

  
“Not anymore,” Cassandra held up a piece of paper.

  
Then Eamon turned and threw himself at Isolde. “I love you. I have given you everything you have ever wanted. You can’t let them do this to me.”  
Isolde tried to push him off of her. When he would not budge Gaspard stepped in and tried to physically move him. The former arl still clung to the wife he had betrayed. Then Iron Bull stepped up and pried Eamon’s arms open as Gaspard gently moved Isolde. When Bull stepped back, Dorian smirked and fanned himself. That was his big strong man.  
Then Eamon turned to Alistair. “I raised you. I have only done what is best for you; you know you can trust me.”  
Alistair was shocked. The man had taken the one thing he valued most in life away from him. It was only through the grace of The Maker that he had her back. Besides, another lie was nagging at him. “Really? Then who is my mother?”

  
“What does that have to do with…” Eamon trailed off as he spied Fiona among the audience. Alistair knew.

  
“This is rather easy,” Selina pointed at the couple. “As Orlais is already demanding your execution, and has even scheduled it already and has an executioner waiting, and the King of Ferelden has agreed to let them execute you in exchange for certain concessions in the peace treaty that they are in the process of negotiating for you, I sentence you to be executed by beheading. I understand that you will first be tortured by … mimes.” Josephine whispered something into her ear. “Oh, you will be tortured by having to watch mimes.” Josephine whispered again, this time urgently. Selina turned to her. “No, that is definitely torture not entertainment for the masses.”

  
The prisoners were escorted out to where the executioner already waited. Alistair and Caitlyn both claimed that they would have to miss the pre-show as they were making quick wedding preparations as Alistair had announced that he was taking no chances and wanted them to be married before he took her and Moira back to Denerim. They would have a big wedding celebration in a few months there. Caitlyn was grateful that she already had a seamstress working on a dress there.

  
The prisoners were soon executed. Their bodies were burned, although Gaspard offered their heads to Isolde in a gesture that many Orlesians found romantic.

 

  
The next day, negotiations continued and the rescheduled hunt took place. However, Alistair and Caitlyn ‘somehow’ became separated from the rest of the hunters and spent a few hours alone in the woods. They would have stayed longer, but Caitlyn had a baby who would need fed to get back to. The day after that the treaties were signed and a merry joust took place, with both rulers insisting on participating.

  
The last day in Jader, which followed the joust, Alistair and Caitlyn were married. Alistair wore the red and gold formal ensemble that he had worn to the ball. Caitlyn had found a plain, but expertly cut, white dress. Her brother walked her to her groom and the two were wed by Divine Victoria herself.

  
As they were declared husband and wife, Alistair laid a hand on her cheek. “This is how it has always been meant to be,” then he kissed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again comments are welcome.  
> This is set to be the last chapter, but I don't think I'm done with this world.


End file.
